The TUC calls for stricter rules to protect workers from decisions made by artificial intelligence systems.
AI-enabled technologies are now making “high-risk, life-changing” decisions about workers’ lives, including line management, hiring and firing of employees,” said the body representing the unions.
But a new law will “water down” existing protections, it said.
The Government said the TUC’s assessment was “wrong” and said safeguards would remain in place.
A spokesman said they were committed to improving and upholding workers’ rights: “AI is designed to drive growth and create new high-paying jobs across the UK, while allowing us to do the jobs we do more efficiently and safely.
“That’s why we’re working with companies and regulators to ensure AI is used safely and responsibly in business environments.”
Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that develops machines and software that can perform tasks that normally require humans, such as B. decision making or speech recognition.
A number of researchers have raised concerns about the use of AI in the workplace, particularly recruitment tools that use voice and video to determine a candidate’s suitability for a job. They argue the systems are unscientific and contain bias.
The TUC says AI will be used to analyze facial expressions, voice pitch and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles.
Left unchecked, she argues, AI could lead to greater discrimination at work. For example, tools that analyze facial expressions can disadvantage candidates or employees with certain disabilities.
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However, some of the companies promoting AI tools argue that, conversely, computer systems will make more unbiased decisions than humans alone.
Mary Towers, policy officer for employment rights at the TUC, told the BBC her research has found AI tools that can be used in a variety of industries “at the recruitment stage for things like CV screening, but beyond that in team assignment, job assignment, Disciplinary measures up to and including termination of employment”.
“We found evidence of AI-powered tools being used in all the different ways you would expect a human manager to perform functions at work,” she said.
AI tools can also be used to track employee performance and sometimes make automated decisions to effectively fire employees.
The TUC warns that AI “could set unrealistic goals which then result in workers being placed in dangerous situations that negatively impact their physical health and mental well-being”.
Some employers require workers to carry devices that record data about their job, which can then be analyzed. A warehouse worker told AI activists Connected by Data that this meant too many toilet breaks were being reported and they had to explain why they weren’t working.
Last month, the government released its white paper on AI, which proposed extending regulation of the technology to various existing bodies rather than creating a single new watchdog.
According to the TUC, the paper provided regulators with only “vague” and “flaky” guidance on how to ensure AI is used ethically at work, “and no additional capacity or resources to meet increasing demand.”
It also suggested that the Privacy and Digital Information Act, which went to second reading on Monday, will water down many protections in current privacy legislation – including the right to human review of automated decisions.
The TUC wants companies to disclose how AI is being used to make staffing decisions. All decisions should be subject to human review so workers can appeal, it said.
The government believes its reforms will not change the right of workers to have essential, solely automated, decisions subject to human review.
The bill will maintain the protections UK workers currently have and give organizations more flexibility, it said.
But other organizations have also voiced similar criticism of the bill. Connected by Data told the BBC: “The law restricts workers’ ability to access or question the use of data held about them, meaning they may never know why their ability to making a living is threatened.”
To show why such rules are important, it cites a recent court case in which two carpooling companies were ordered to release information related to automated decisions firing workers in the UK and Portugal.
Angela Rayner, Labor Deputy Leader and Shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work, also backed the TUC’s call, telling the BBC that AI was “already transforming the economy”.
Workers must have “an appropriate say in the implementation of technology,” she said.
“Labour will update workers’ rights and protections to fit the modern economy.”
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