California launches tool to track whether AI is costing workers jobs

California launched a new public dashboard Thursday to track job losses possibly tied to artificial intelligence, a tool Gov. Gavin Newsom's office described as the first of its kind in the nation.

The California AI-Unemployment Tracker was developed with the California Policy Lab at UCLA and the Employment Development Department, the state agency that handles unemployment benefits.

The tracker uses unemployment data to look for patterns among workers whose jobs may be more exposed to AI disruption. The data does not prove AI caused a specific layoff, but it could show whether unemployment claims are increasing among workers in jobs more likely to be affected by AI.

"As AI advances, we aren't just watching from the sidelines; we're reimagining how we prepare California through strong governance and innovative policy," Newsom said in a statement.

The tracker will be updated monthly and could help the state identify where job search support, retraining, upskilling, health coverage guidance and other resources may be needed.

Initial findings showed no evidence of rising statewide unemployment claims from workers in occupations considered highly exposed to AI.

"Right now, we are not seeing evidence of large-scale AI-related layoffs in California's labor market," said Dr. Ben Hyman, senior researcher at the California Policy Lab, in a statement.

Still, researchers said the data showed more targeted patterns, including increases in claims from college-educated workers in high-AI-exposure occupations. Workers in high-exposure occupations in the San Francisco Bay Area also saw a sustained increase, according to the governor's office.

"This new tracker helps replace speculation with evidence, giving us a clearer understanding of what's changing and how to best support affected workers," said Till von Wachter, professor of economics at UCLA and faculty director of the California Policy Lab's UCLA site, in a statement.

Newsom issued an executive order in May aimed at preparing California workers, small businesses and communities for potential job disruption driven by AI. The dashboard was one of the workforce-tracking efforts called for under the order.