If a few days ago we talked about how Artificial Intelligence was being taught to have notions of justice, opening the debate on whether in the future judges will be machines, today it is the job market’s turn.
In the BBC they have published an article in which it is shown how the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of the United Kingdom has warned about some existing holes in the labor legislation on the use of artificial intelligence at work.
Apparently workers could be hired and fired by an algorithm, and that is something that is not being reviewed to protect workers.
What they ask is that high-risk decisions be reviewed by humans, that a machine is not left to decide whether someone can leave or enter a company. They recognize that AI at work can be used to improve productivity and work life, but believe that making life-changing decisions is something else.
Without fair rules, the use of artificial intelligence at work could lead to widespread discrimination and unfair treatment.
AI already makes decisions related to places to visit, or areas that need more surveillance, all without human supervision, but there are already some cases that analyze performance metrics to determine who should be first in line for promotion, or be fired.
What they ask from the union, together with the labor rights lawyers and AI Law Consultancy, is that the law be updated at the same speed as the AI does, and for this they ask, among other things:
– Employers’ obligation to consult unions on the use of high-risk or intrusive AI at work – The legal right to have a person review decisions – Changes to UK law to protect against discrimination based on algorithm
Among the cases they denounce they have accusations of Uber Eats delivery drivers who claimed that they had been fired because the facial recognition software could not recognize their faces, so the algorithm did not recognize all the deliveries made. Uber denies it, saying there is always a human review involved before any layoffs.
What is clear is that a lot will have to change the world for laws to advance at the same speed as technology.
