AI She says the UK government appears unwilling to take any
legislative action and is even proposing to dilute existing protections; these could include rights over privacy, data protection and, potentially, equality. “This could be the first concrete piece of deregulation post-Brexit,” she says, with the right to consultation over significant effects being removed or watered down along with data protection impact assessments. Underpinning the concerns being raised is the lack of transparency at the heart of automated decision-making. It is not about opposition to technology but rather its potential for misuse. The prohibitive cost of AI is also putting the technology in
the hands of relatively few very large investors, which has implications for development with a lack of public scrutiny. AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton warned about this and the risks of rapid development when he quit Google in May. He told the Financial Times: “If you’re going to live in a capitalist system, you can’t stop Google competing with Microsoft. This technology which ought to be wonderful… is being developed in a society that is not designed to use it for everybody’s good.” The ETUC, the leading trade union organisation representing
workers at the European level, has also flagged the danger of outsourcing “the design of everything from specific criteria to ethnic guidelines to private standard-setting organisations where companies and business-related organisations can buy influence and thus make the process purely business friendly”. The reality of management by machine has already made headlines. At Amazon, algorithmic controls extend from managing workload to calculating individualised piece rates, all without scrutiny, individually or collectively. Mick Rix, GMB national officer, says: “The pace and schedule of work delivered by Amazon’s algorithms dehumanise work. They damage worker wellbeing and have caused literally hundreds of ambulance call-outs to Amazon warehouses.” In April, ride-hailing companies Uber and Ola Cabs lost their appeal in an test case in Amsterdam over ‘robo-firing’. A group of drivers had brought claims under the EU General Data Protection Regulation over algorithmic decision-making that had sacked them automatically, alleging fraud and terminating their ability to use the work app. As Towers told the data bill committee: “Data is
about control; data is about influence; data is the route that workers have to establish fair conditions at work. Without that influence and control, there is a risk that only one set of interests is represented through the use of technology at work – and that technology at work, rather than being used to improve the world of work, is used to intensify work to an unsustainable level.” Last December, the ETUC said: “AI poses enormous dangers to workers when unregulated. In addition to massive surveillance, it can be used to recognise feelings and judge workers without considering the context…Even more dangerous, such systems can be used for predictions about political attitudes, childbearing preferences and trade union membership.” This adds to fears that sex, race and other biases can be
hardwired into algorithms. The capacity of seemingly boundless processing power to
theJournalist | 17 “
To paraphrase from George Orwell’s 1984, if there is hope, it lies with the unions
relieve people of drudgery and make significant scientific progress is being set against its potential to deskill and replace human labour, magnify society’s worst aspects, undermine rights and even open to the door to abuse. It is therefore no surprise that the ETUC resolution said:
“The human-in-command principle has to be defined and the rights of human decision-makers have to be protected.” AI offers immense opportunities for improving efficiency,
diversity, fairness and safety at work. Media groups such as the Financial Times are trialling its use to accumulate information at scale from documents or social media, for example, and to help deal with online moderation. Used to harness human creativity and to free up time for
leisure or the develop higher-level pursuits, AI could be a wave the next generation surfs to the benefit of all. However, it threatens to be a tidal wave no one can control. But maybe, to paraphrase from George Orwell’s 1984, if there is hope, it lies with the unions. In June, GMB members at Amazon voted for six months of strike action in a pay dispute, followed a walkout with 500 joining the picket line at the Coventry depot. As Amanda Gearing, GMB senior organiser, says: “Amazon workers have risen up; now we are seeing a domino effect.”
Steve Bird is chair of the FT NUJ chapel and a member of the NUJ newspaper and agencies industrial council
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