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This is an op-ed by White House National Economic Advisor Lael Brainard and Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su.
American workers are making their voices heard. But just as workers are beginning to lay the foundations for a secure future, the rise of artificial intelligence is creating new uncertainties.
American workers are seeing significant wage increases above inflation, the longest sustained unemployment rate below 4% in 50 years, and historic collective bargaining agreements across the economy. But nearly four in 10 Americans say they don’t know how AI will change their jobs, according to polls. 1 in 4 he’s on her FOBO – fear of becoming obsolete.
AI holds great promise and potential dangers. On the one hand, AI can improve medical diagnosis, reduce work burden, and increase productivity for workers and companies. On the other hand, it can exacerbate prejudice, reduce the quality of work, and cause workers to be fired. For example, using AI to inform hiring, promotion, or disciplinary decisions without meaningful oversight can reproduce biases embedded in training-based data. Similarly, algorithmic management tools that monitor worker performance or assign work tasks can create injury risks. And the large amounts of data these technology tools use can violate workers’ privacy or jeopardize their ability to unionize.
President Biden has expressed a commitment to the safe and responsible development of AI, both promoting innovation and protecting workers. Simply put, AI is neither safe nor responsible unless workers do the right thing. The role of AI in our lives will be determined by the choices we make as a society, and industry, workers, workers, and governments all have a role to play.
As the most pro-union, pro-worker president in history, President Biden has made it clear that workers need to be at the table when designing and deploying AI. And this becomes even more urgent as he just marked 90 days since issuing his Executive Order on the Development and Use of Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence.
Workers and industry are already finding win-win solutions that foster creativity and innovation while protecting workers’ livelihoods. In September, the Writers Guild of America’s 20,000 screenwriters signed a historic collective bargaining agreement to tackle AI for the first time ever. The agreement ensures that only the screenwriter receives writing credit and prohibits studios from using her AI in scriptwriting, while giving the writer the ability to use her AI as a tool to support their creative efforts. You will be given the option to do so. Similarly, rail workers have negotiated to ensure that workers have oversight over the AI-enabled technology used to scan rail cars. Culinary workers in Las Vegas have secured a promise to give advance notice before new technology, including robotics, is brought into the workplace.
Modern collective agreements such as these emphasize the important role of trade unions in building and strengthening the middle class, now and in the future. They also provide a positive and replicable model for the broader labor market. Industry and workers, whether unionized or not, must bring worker perspectives into AI development and deployment and equip workers with the digital literacy necessary to adapt to AI-enabled work. At this time, formal mechanisms can be established to jointly advocate for worker-centered policies. This is exactly what Microsoft did with its recently announced partnership with AFL-CIO. Importantly, Microsoft is also committed to remaining neutral in future organizing efforts.
The Biden administration is committed to doing its part. This includes building worker protections into the rules of major subsidy programs and continuing to promote quality jobs and the right to organize through the Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Initiative.
The Department of Labor is also developing a set of principles for the responsible and worker-centric use of AI. These principles provide for important safeguards such as transparency in AI use, careful pre-deployment testing of AI systems, appropriate and meaningful human review of their output, and privacy-enhancing technologies. Additionally, the National Science Foundation is investing in significant research into privacy-preserving technologies, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has already issued guidance to ensure the use of AI is consistent with civil rights laws. Masu.
We support comprehensive training programs that help all workers access jobs created or changed by AI, so they can thrive in the AI-powered economy and make this happen. We will continue to work harder to take advantage of the benefits that technology can bring. The administration is also preparing detailed policy recommendations to protect and support workers from potential AI-related displacement. After decades of widening income inequality and the marginalization of working communities from previous eras of technological progress, we must realize that any economic gains from AI come at the expense of displaced workers. It is necessary to prevent it from being brought on. Instead, profits from AI can be reinvested in workers to ensure stronger economic growth for decades to come.
AI has already proven to be a powerful new technology, but it is up to us to use it productively for the benefit of society as a whole. Employers, industry, and governments should only promote AI that works for workers. Because that’s the only way AI can work in the United States.
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