LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – First came the time clock. Then the pager. Then the security camera perched in the corner to make sure paper clips and gel pens aren’t being stolen. Employers have long kept tabs on their workers. But now? Some Michigan labor leaders warn that artificial intelligence (AI) could be tracking everything from your facial expressions to the number of minutes you spend in the restroom.

Those concerns are now making their way to the Lansing Capitol. Last week at a press conference, State Rep. Penelope Tsernoglou (D-East Lansing) announced plans to introduce the Responsible Artificial Intelligence Security for Employees Act (RAISE), aimed at placing guardrails on workplace AI surveillance. Backed by the Michigan AFL- CIO and other unions, the proposal responds to concerns that employers can now track body movement, tone of voice, productivity metrics – and yes, even bathroom breaks.

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Tsernoglou said at the press conference that using AI surveillance to evaluate employee performance amounts to a “corporate epidemic of invasive, unnecessary and unethical surveillance techniques.”

The partisan bill, HB 5579, among other things, states that it exists to “prescribe the circumstances under which an employer, third party, or service provider may use an automated decisions tool or electronic monitoring tool.”

Bathroom spying.

Jeff Breslin, president of the Professional Employee Council at Sparrow Hospital (PECSH) said the AI technology can “tell whether or not you went in the bathroom, how long you went in the bathroom, and even in some cases, tell what you did while you were there.”

Necessary oversight or regulatory overreach?

Supporters argue the bill would not ban AI tools outright. Instead, it would require transparency, written notice and employee consent for certain monitoring practices. It would prohibit surveillance in bathrooms, locker rooms and similar private areas, restrict the collection of health and wellness data, and limit AI’s role in setting wages or making disciplinary decisions.

Whether RAISE becomes law or stalls in committee, one thing is clear: in Michigan, the fight over AI isn’t just happening in Silicon Valley boardrooms. It’s also happening in America’s bathrooms.