Texas businesses using artificial intelligence to set compensation or select employees for layoffs could face greater scrutiny if Democratic attorney general nominee Nathan Johnson wins in November.

The state senator’s proposal targets two gaps in Texas’ existing AI framework: tools used to manipulate wage bargaining and the absence of required disclosures when AI helps determine which workers or positions are eliminated. According to an August 26 Fisher Phillips analysis, his election could change enforcement priorities even if broader legislative changes prove elusive.

In his campaign’s “Catching Up To Yesterday” plan, Johnson promises an audit of consumer protection, competition and employment laws during his first 30 days in office, followed by work with legal teams and lawmakers to address identified shortcomings.

“The laws designed to protect Texans must keep pace with advances in technology and marketing innovation,” the campaign document says. Johnson also proposes twice-yearly reports from the attorney general’s Consumer Protection Division identifying technological developments that create vulnerabilities for consumers and employees.

For employers, the potential shift would extend scrutiny beyond discriminatory hiring and firing to how algorithms influence compensation negotiations and workforce reductions. A disclosure requirement could force companies to explain when automated tools contributed to termination decisions, including decisions to eliminate entire positions. Restrictions on wage manipulation could require closer examination of compensation software and vendor practices.

Those remain policy objectives, however, rather than enacted requirements or detailed proposed rules. The campaign has not specified what conduct would constitute prohibited wage manipulation or precisely what employers would need to disclose.

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