TUC calls for AI regulation in workplace
THE UK is losing the “race against time” to regulate AI in the workplace, unions are warning. The TUC said employment law is failing to keep pace with the rapid speed of technological change, leaving many workers vulnerable to exploitation and discrimination.
The union organisation published a “ready-to-go” legal blueprint for regulating AI in the workplace, with a suggested Bill developed in partnership with legal experts.
It sets out new legal rights and protections including a legal duty on employers to consult trade unions on the use of high risk and intrusive forms of AI in the workplace and protections against unfair dismissal by AI.
The TUC called on all political parties to support AI regulation in the workplace, describing it as an “urgent national priority”.
AI is already making high-risk, lifechanging decisions about workers’ lives, such as line-managing, hiring and firing staff and is being used to analyse facial expressions, tone of voice and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles, said the TUC.
It warned that the UK is at risk of becoming an international outlier on AI regulation, highlighting that other countries such as the US, China, Canada and those in the EU, were implementing new laws for how AI should be used.
TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell said: “UK employment law is simply failing to keep pace with the rapid speed of technological change. We are losing the race to regulate AI in the workplace.
“AI is already making life-changing calls in the workplace, including how people are hired, performance managed and fired.
“We urgently need to put new guardrails in place to protect workers from exploitation and discrimination. This should be a national priority.
“Other countries are regulating workplace AI – so that staff and employers know where they stand. The UK can’t afford to drag its feet and become an international outlier.”
Moreover, Welsh workers are more likely to invest in their own AI training in the next five years than any other part of the UK, but few fear that this technology will replace their job. This is according to the Robert Half jobs confidence dndex (JCI) – an economic confidence tracker produced in partnership with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).
The latest iteration of the report shows that 62% of Welsh workers are funding their own training in relation to artificial intelligence over the next five years, the highest recorded percentage across the UK.
Unlike other parts of the UK such as London – where concerns over AI’s impact on careers is rife – Welsh employees aren’t being driven to develop artificial intelligence skills for fear of losing their jobs.
Just under a third (30%) of employees across Wales are concerned that AI will disrupt their career in the next year, compared to 49% of Londoners.
James Fortnam, market director Wales, Ireland and Scotland, at Robert Half, said: “The fact that almost twothirds are planning to invest in their own training despite just 30% of workers being concerned that AI will impact their job is rather encouraging. And with so many planning to move into a new field that is more centred around artificial intelligence, it’s looking likely that Wales holds the potential to soon become a prime location for AI skills.”