Gov. Gavin Newsom just signed an executive order. It targets the mess AI is making of jobs. The order landed on a Thursday, meant to stop the bleeding before the disruptions become total. He wants to look at severance. Universal basic income. Training. The usual fixes for a problem that doesn’t fit old tools.
He is positioning for 2028, probably. The President’s chair looms large in his rearview.
“This moment demands that we reimagine…” he said. Reimagining. That word always shows up right before you have to spend real money or make real enemies. He claimed this work starts in California. The Golden State is testing the waters. Or jumping in. Depends on how deep the data gets.
The Meta Reality Check
The timing was no accident. Meta laid off 8,00 people the day before. That’s 10% of their staff. Poof. Another thousand or so got shuffled into AI roles.
“Success isn’t a given,” Zuckerberg told his team. “A.I. is the most consequential technology…”
Zuckerberg calls it a transition. It looks like a purge to the people getting the door swung in their faces. Meta is profitable, too. Strong quarterly numbers don’t stop the ax if you want to bet everything on the next thing. Microsoft is doing it. Cisco is doing it. The industry is shedding skin, leaving bodies in the dirt.
Newsom’s order moves fast. Sort of.
Within 90 days, a dashboard has to appear. It will show what AI does to employment numbers. Based on insurance data. We will have a pretty graph of displacement by then. Mid-October brings agency reviews. They’ll check if unions are ready for bots. Maybe.
“Today is just the first step… creating a future of work that works…”
A future where it works. We’ll see if the code compiles. Newsom starts the clock now. The rest of the country watches to see if the machine catches. Or just runs over.
The order is out. The layoffs keep coming. Someone has to catch up.
