Marketshaping
User Error for Legislators: AI, Tech, and Workers Rights
09. 13. 2024
This first in a series of reports shows how AI-driven technologies worsen harmful practices and outlines what must be done to safeguard our rights.
Kairos Fellowship and State Innovation Exchange published this report.
Surveillance, work intensification, algorithmic management, and loss of autonomy are not new trends in the workplace. These are tactics that abusive employers have used for centuries. However, the rapid introduction of technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technologies, in the workplace is supercharging existing trends that are harmful to workers.
Technology can either advance or undermine progress, but it does not have to infringe on workers’ rights. Tech companies and employers using these tools are taking advantage of the emergent nature of these technologies to dictate regulatory frameworks—or to avoid them altogether. Contrary to what the tech industry might suggest, the proliferation of these abusive tools is neither inevitable nor uncontrollable. They can and should be regulated, including being prohibited, to safeguard our rights.