SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom Jun 25 announced the launch of California’s first-in-the-nation tool to proactively track AI-related job loss trends – an early warning system to help the state monitor, track, and anticipate job loss. The dashboard was developed in partnership with the University of California, California Policy Lab and released as part of the Governor’s recent executive order issued to prepare workers, small businesses, and communities for the economic disruption that artificial intelligence will bring.  

The California AI-Unemployment Tracker is a publicly available dashboard developed in partnership between the researchers at the California Policy Lab’s UCLA site and the California Employment Development Department. The tool is designed not only to inform policymakers but also to help Californians better understand how AI is intersecting with the workforce and the broader job market.

The tracker, which will be updated monthly, provides early indicators of possible AIrelated job displacement, allowing the state to proactively identify where interventions — such as jobsearch support, retraining and upskilling opportunities, healthcoverage guidance, and other essential resources may be needed most. 

Paired with the tracker is a comprehensive analysis of the data, which at this time shows no evidence of rising statewide unemployment claims in AI-exposed occupations.

However, the data does demonstrate impacts to workers in high-exposure AI positions following the expansion of AI software available to the public. For example, claims from college-educated workers in occupations with high AI exposure increased after ChatGPT-3.5’s release in 2022, and workers in occupations with high potential AI exposure in the San Francisco Bay Area also experienced a  sustained increase. The data did not show large disproportionate increases by race, ethnicity, gender, or age, in the number of high-AI-exposure UI claimants.