TRENTON - New Jersey's capital city thrives on gossip, nonsense, self-congratulations, and self-aggrandizement.

So how the hell is the political establishment here going to grapple effectively with an oceanic octopus like artificial intelligence?

Incrementally, it appears.

To that end, a largely flummoxed establishment has grabbed the nearest physicist and thrown him on the beat, in this case, state Senator Andrew Zwicker (D-16), now the legislature's go-to guy for AI.

Everyone's walking a delicate line, not wanting to deride data centers in a way that infuriates the Building Trades, while looking human-centric on the jobs protection front without ticking off the emergent deadly robot population.

It's complicated.

But the state's biggest union organization this afternoon attempted to simplify the situation, with Zwicker and other lawmakers in attendance.

NJ AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech and Executive Treasurer Laurel Brennan planted a podium in front of the Statehouse Annex to announce their vigorous support for the FAIR Act or Fair AI Regulations at Work — S-4075/A-4981), a bill establishing sweeping new protections for workers as artificial intelligence reshapes the workplace.

Zwicker's the prime sponsor in the senate, along with Assemblywoman Heather Simmons (D-3).

By way of context, from the AFL-CIO:

AI is already changing the workplace. Nearly half of employed New Jerseyans use AI at work, and more than half of American workers are worried about future use of AI in the workplace. As technology becomes more embedded in how people work, workers are facing new questions about surveillance, discrimination, privacy, job security, and automated decisions in the workplace.

The FAIR Act would allow New Jersey workers and employers to reap the benefits of emerging technology while establishing commonsense protections for workers’ rights, privacy, and safety.

AI can make workplaces more productive and more efficient. The FAIR Act would establish ground rules for how it can be used when workers’ jobs, rights, safety, and privacy are at stake. The bill doesn’t prohibit AI — it gives working people a voice in how new technology changes their workplaces, and protections against being harmed or left behind in the process.

What does the bill do exactly?

In brief, from the summary:

This bill is designed to ensure that there are reasonable guard rails on the use of systems using artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies in places of employment and for public services.  The bill regulates AI used in electronic monitoring tools (EMT) to collect and process a wide range of data and information about workers and job applicants and AI used by automated employment decision-making systems (AEDS) in making employment-related decisions such as hiring and firing.  The bill also regulates automated benefit and service decision-making systems (ABSDS) used in making decisions related to providing public benefits and services.

Wowkanech laid out more specifics here:

And in an intrview with InsiderNJ below:

It's just the beginning of the state legislature's effort to harness AI for human purposes.

More here from Laurel Brennan:

And from Senator Shirley Turner (D-15):

And Assemblywoman Simmons: