UK failing to protect workers from AI, warns trade union: Report

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) warned on Tuesday (April 18) that the United Kingdom (UK) government was failing to protect workers against the rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that would increasingly determine hiring and firing, and pay and promotion. According to a report by the Financial Times, the TUC argued that the government was failing to put in place the guard rails needed to protect workers as adoption of AI-powered technologies spread.

These technologies were already widely used to make life-changing decisions across the economy, the union said, adding AI systems were being widely used in recruitment. The TUC also encountered teachers' concerns that they were being monitored by systems originally introduced to track the performance of students. The report said that call centre workers reported that their colleagues were routinely allocated calls by AI programsthat were more likely to lead to a good outcome, and so attract a bonus.

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Mary Towers, a policy officer at the TUC, said that the rise of generative AI brought the renewed urgency to the need for legislation.

"These technologies are often spoken about as the future of work," Towers said, adding the TUC had evidence to show that it was widespread across employment relationships. "These are existing urgent problems in the workplace and they have been for sometime," she said.

The TUC also pointed out that the government's Data Protection and Digital Information Bill would dilute important existing protections for workers.

'TUC's assessment wrong': Government

The government, meanwhile, criticised the TUC's assessment by saying it was wrong. A government spokesperson said that AI was set to drive growth and create newhighly paid jobs across the UK.

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The spokesperson added that the government was working with businesses and regulators to make sure AI was usedsafely and responsibly in business settings, and that theData Protection and Digital Information Bill strong safeguards thatemployers would be required to implement.

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