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One of California’s first labor fights over AI is playing out at Kaiser
Workers of one of the most powerful unions in California are forming an early front in the battle against artificial intelligence, warning it could take jobs and harm people’s health.
As part of their negotiations with their employer, Kaiser Permanente workers have been pushing back against the giant healthcare provider’s use of AI. They are building demands around the issue and others, using picket lines and hunger strikes to help persuade Kaiser to use the powerful technology responsibly.
Kaiser says AI could save employees from tedious, time-consuming tasks such as taking notes and paperwork. Workers say that could be the first step down a slippery slope that leads to layoffs and damage to patient health.
“They’re sort of painting a map that would reduce their need for human workers and human clinicians,” said Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker and part of the bargaining team for the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which is fighting for more protections against AI
The 42-year-old Oakland-based therapist says she knows technology can be useful but warns that the consequences for patients have been “grave” when AI makes mistakes.
Kaiser says AI can help physicians and employees focus on serving members and patients.
“AI does not replace human assessment and care,” Kaiser spokesperson Candice Lee said in an email. “Artificial intelligence holds significant potential to benefit healthcare by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.”
AI fears are shaking up industries across the country.
Medical administrative assistants are among the most exposed to AI, according to a recent study by Brookings and the Centre for the Governance of AI. The assistants do the type of work that AI is getting better at. Meanwhile, they are less likely to have the skills or support needed to transition to new jobs, the study said.
There are millions of other jobs that are among the most vulnerable to AI, such as office clerks, insurance sales agents and translators, according to the research released last month.
In California, labor unions this week urged Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers to pass more legislation to protect workers from AI. The California Federation of Labor Unions has sponsored a package of bills to address AI’s risks, including job loss and surveillance.
The technology “threatens to eviscerate workers’ rights and cause widespread job loss,” the group said in a joint letter with AFL-CIO leaders in different states.
Kaiser Permanente is California’s largest private employer, with close to 19,000 physicians and more than 180,000 employees . It has a major presence in Washington, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii and other states.
The National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents Kaiser employees, has been among the earliest to recognize and respond to the encroachment of AI into the workplace. As it has negotiated for better pay and working conditions, the use of AI has also become an important new point of discussion between workers and management.
Kaiser already uses AI software to transcribe conversations and take notes between healthcare workers and patients, but therapists have privacy concerns about recording highly sensitive remarks. The company also uses AI to predict when hospitalized patients might become more ill. It offers mental health apps for enrollees, including at least one with an AI chatbot.
Last year, Kaiser mental health workers held a hunger strike in Los Angeles to demand the healthcare provider improve its mental health services and patient care.
The union ratified a new contract covering 2,400 mental health and addiction medicine employees in Southern California last year, but negotiations continue for Marcucci-Morris and other Northern California mental health workers. They want Kaiser to pledge that AI will be used only to assist, but not replace, workers.
Kaiser said it’s still bargaining with the union.
“We don’t know what the future holds, but our proposal would commit us to bargain if there are changes to working conditions due to any new AI technologies,” Lee said.
Healthcare providers have also faced lawsuits over the use of AI tools to record conversations between doctors and patients. A November lawsuit, filed in San Diego County Superior Court, alleged Sharp HealthCare used an AI note-taking software called Abridge to illegally record doctor-patient conversations without consent.
Sharp HealthCare said it protects patients’ privacy and does not use AI tools during therapy sessions.
Some Kaiser doctors and clinicians, including therapists, use Abridge to take notes during patient visits. Kaiser Permanente Ventures, its venture capital arm, has invested in Abridge.
The healthcare provider said, “Investment decisions are distinctly separate from other decisions made by Kaiser Permanente.”
Close to half of Kaiser behavioral health professionals in Northern California said they are uncomfortable with the introduction of AI tools, including Abridge, in their clinical practice, according to their union.
The provider said that its workers review the AI-generated notes for accuracy and get patient consent, and that the recordings and transcripts are encrypted. Data are “stored and processed in approved, compliant environments for up to 14 days before becoming permanently deleted.”
Lawmakers and mental health professionals are exploring other ways to restrict the use of AI in mental healthcare.
The California Psychological Assn. is trying to push through legislation to protect patients from AI. It joined others to back a bill requiring clear, written consent before a client’s therapy session is recorded or transcribed.
The bill also prohibits individuals or companies, including those using AI, from offering therapy in California without a licensed professional.
State Sen. Steve Padilla (D-Chula Vista), who introduced the bill, said there need to be more rules around the use of AI.
“This technology is powerful. It’s ubiquitous. It’s evolving quickly,” he said. “That means you have a limited window to make sure we get in there and put the right guardrails in place.”
Dr. John Torous, director of digital psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said that people are using AI chatbots for advice on how to approach difficult conversations, not necessarily to replace therapy, but that more research is still needed.
He’s working with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to develop benchmarks so people understand how different AI tools respond to mental health.
Healthcare workers say they are worried about what they are already seeing can happen when people struggling with mental health issues interact too much with AI chatbots.
AI chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT aren’t licensed or designed to be therapists and can’t replace professional mental healthcare. Still, some teenagers and adults have been turning to chatbots to share their personal struggles. People have long been using Google to deal with physical and mental health issues, but AI can seem more powerful because it delivers what looks like a diagnosis and a solution with confidence in a conversation.
Parents whose children died by suicide after talking to chatbots have sued California AI companies Character.AI and OpenAI, alleging the platforms provided content that harmed the mental health of young people and discussed suicide methods.
“They are not trained to respond as a human would respond,” said Dr. Dustin Weissman, president of the California Psychological Assn. “A lot of those nuances can fall through the cracks, and because of that, it could lead to catastrophic outcomes.”
To be sure, some users are finding value and even what feels like companionship in conversations with chatbots about their mental health and other issues.
Indeed, some say the AI bots have given them easier access to mental health tips and help them work through thoughts and feelings in a conversational style that might otherwise require an appointment with a therapist and hundreds of dollars.
Roughly 12% of adults are likely to use AI chatbots for mental healthcare in the next six months and 1% already do, according to a NAMI/Ipsos survey conducted in November.
But for mental health workers like Marcucci-Morris, AI by itself is not enough.
“AI is not the savior,” she said.
Airbnb unveiled a new set of services for guests on Wednesday, adding car rentals, airport pickup and grocery delivery to its online marketplace that connects travelers with local hosts.
Customers can now get groceries delivered to their Airbnb through a partnership with Instacart and have a driver meet them at the airport with Airbnb’s Welcome Pickups. The app is also offering luggage storage in partnership with Bounce and will add in-app car rentals later this summer.
At the same time, Airbnb is ramping up its use of AI by adding AI-powered review summaries and lodging comparisons, the company said.
The company has been expanding beyond lodging since last year, when it introduced Airbnb Experiences and Services, giving guests the option to book private tours and chef-cooked meals through the app.
In an earnings call earlier this month, the company’s chief executive, Brian Chesky, said the company is at “the very, very beginning of how AI is going to change how we all do our jobs.”
The changes are coming in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in 16 cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The company said its offering exclusive World Cup experiences, such as watch parties and access to stadiums.
“In terms of what we’ve seen in cumulative bookings heading into the event, the World Cup is slated to be the largest event in Airbnb’s history,” said the company’s chief financial officer, Ellie Mertz, on the earnings call.
Airbnb gained popularity for offering travelers unique and homey stays on other people’s property, but it added boutique hotel bookings to its platform late last year. The move had some customers questioning if the app was straying too far from its original purpose.
In its announcement this week, the company said it is partnering with more independent hotels in 20 top destinations, including New York, London and Singapore. On the earnings call, Chesky said hotels on Airbnb could become a multibillion-dollar revenue business.
The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2007 and gave homeowners the opportunity to earn money by renting out their space to travelers seeking something different from a hotel. Airbnb bookings can range from private bedrooms in a shared home to luxury mansions and yachts.
The company’s revenue grew 18% year over year to $2.7 billion in the first quarter, while net income increased slightly to $160 million. Airbnb’s new services and offerings could transform it from a home-sharing platform to a holistic travel marketplace, analysts said.
Shares of the company have increased by 14% over the past six months and fell by less than 1% on Thursday.
Elon Musk wants to take investors on a ride to the moon — and beyond.
His pioneering rocket company SpaceX filed Wednesday for what’s expected to be the largest initial public offering in history, potentially raising at least $75 billion and valuing the company at as much as $2 trillion.
The registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an expected public offering next month explicitly sets aside stocks for retail investors, though the exact number will be spelled out in a later filing, as will the offering price and company valuation.
Interest in the stock offering is expected to be high despite the billionaire’s controversial politics, including his involvement last year with the Department of Government Efficiency, the makeshift cost-cutting effort that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of government jobs.
“Potential investors are probably just as polarized as the electorate is too, given his dabbling in politics,” said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist for BMO Private Wealth. “But it’s not just the SpaceX IPO per se, it’s a bigger, broader excitement among investors for space investment in general.”
Investor interest was piqued by the Artemis II moon mission this year that SpaceX did not participate in, she said. However, the company is expected to play a larger role in future missions that take astronauts to the moon..
Ultimately, Musk, 54, wants to establish a colony on Mars but those plans have been set on the back burner, with NASA now focusing on moon missions.
Musk will remain the company’s chief executive and chairman. Under a dual-class stock structure as a holder of special Class B shares he will be able to control the election of directors, the filing says.
The IPO is expected to be at least twice as large as the current record holder: Saudi Aramco, the state-controlled national oil and gas company of Saudi Arabia, which raised nearly $30 billion in 2019.
Nearly two dozen banks will be underwriting the IPO and offering shares to investors, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup.
Founded in 2002 in El Segundo, SpaceX has revolutionized the aerospace industry by developing the reusable Falcon 9 rocket that has radically lowered launch costs.
The company moved its headquarters from Hawthorne to Texas in 2024. However, SpaceX retains large operations in the South Bay city and blasts off regularly from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
Scores of former SpaceX employees have launched startups in Southern California, including rocket company Relativity Space, hypersonic missile startup Castelion and satellite manufacturer Apex Space.
Since developing its reusable rocket technology, SpaceX has established its Starlink network as the leading satellite-based broadband internet service. It also is moving into satellite-based cellular service and this year merged with Musk’s xAi artificial intelligence company that also included his X social network.
Marco Cáceres, an aerospace analyst at Teal Group, said that the advantage of going public for SpaceX lies in the IPO’s ability to raise a large amount of capital quickly to complete development of its Starship rocket.
“It is going to dominate the market even more than the Falcon 9 is dominating the market now,” he said. “That’s going to be ultimately what’s going to drive their business for the next 10 years.”
The 12th test launch of Starship is set for Friday from the company’s south Texas launch facility. The rocket is the third version of craft, standing more than 400 feet tall and with about three times the payload of the second version.
The regulatory filing claims that the market for its rocket, internet and mobile telephone businesses could be as large as $28.5 trillion.
SpaceX also plans to launch thousands of orbiting data centers powered by the sun that would perform AI calculations.
With the company making massive capital investments, it recorded a $4.28-billion loss in the first quarter. Last year, it recorded $18.7 billion in revenue and lost $4.94 billion, according to the filing.
The public offering is expected to hit the market next month after a “road show,” during which SpaceX will seek to drum up interest from institutional and retail investors.
It will arrive after a fairly quiet year for IPOs that was brightened last week when Cerebras Systems, a Sunnyvale company that makes semiconductors for AI supercomputers, went public.
Shares at Cerebras were offered at $185 and jumped 68% on its opening day. They closed Wednesday at $290.69.
Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, said the SpaceX offering would dwarf that of Cerebras, as it is expected to raise more than every IPO combined in the last two years.
“A win here or a loss could really impact the IPO market,” he said. “The sheer size of this deal is going to make or lose fortunes.”
Among the oddest disclosures of the IPO is a decision by the company’s board in January to grant Musk 1 billion Class B shares if the company reaches a certain market capitalization and establishes a “permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants.”
Erewhon opened its newest location in Glendale on Wednesday, marking the luxury grocer’s 14th store in Southern California with more set to open soon.
The new store, located at 520 N. Glendale Ave., includes the chain’s signature cafe and tonic bar as well as an indoor-outdoor patio space.
Known for its upscale, trendy products and high prices, Erewhon has grown into a tourist destination in Los Angeles and a hot spot for celebrities and influencers.
The Glendale location will bring Erewhon staples to trendy consumers in the area, including the beloved Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie, which until last year was named after the model Hailey Bieber.
Employees at the store handed out complimentary gift bags and fresh flowers during the grand opening Wednesday morning.
“This location was designed to reflect the spirit of the neighborhood while creating a welcoming space to gather, centered around wellness, connection, and a commitment to the quality standards that define Erewhon,” Erewhon President Josephine Antoci said in a statement.
The company purchased the space, which was formerly a hardware store, in 2024.
Erewhon has locations in several of Southern California’s wealthiest areas, including Calabasas and Beverly Hills. It also has stores in Venice, Manhattan Beach and at the Grove.
“Erewhon’s decision to invest in Glendale reflects confidence in our city’s economic future,” Glendale Mayor Ardashes Kassakhian said in a news release.
The grocer was founded in 1966 by Japanese immigrants Michio and Aveline Kushi — pioneers of the natural-foods macrobiotic movement — who began selling imported organic goods out of their Boston home. In 1969, the company opened its first Los Angeles location on Beverly Boulevard.
Josephine and Tony Antoci bought the company in 2011 and helped launch it to its luxury status with a cult-like following. Tony serves as chief executive while Josephine handpicks much of the store’s merchandise.
By the mid-2010s, Erewhon had become a watering hole for celebrities such as the Kardashians and the Beckhams.
The company has its eye on further expansion. A Thousand Oaks location is slated to open this August and stores in Costa Mesa and downtown Los Angeles are planned for 2027. An Erewhon cafe opened in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries earlier this month.
The Pacific Palisades location, which shut down after the wildfires last year, is set to reopen in January.
The Glendale Erewhon takes the place of Virgil’s Hardware Home Center, which opened in 1932 and closed in 2019.
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