Guidelines for Morally Sound Artificial Intelligence
Unions worldwide, led by the UNI Global Union, have released ten ethical principles for the implementation and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace. These principles aim to safeguard workers' interests and preserve a balanced power dynamic in industries, as AI, robotics, data, and machine learning penetrate workplaces, potentially disrupting jobs.
As AI technology increasingly pervades various sectors, unions must take an active role to protect workers' rights, dignity, and well-being. Navigating the urgency of the current situation requires immediate action from unions and multinational worker alliances to safeguard workers' interests.
The Ten Principles for Ethical AI contain commitments to transparency, inclusive dialogues with workers and unions, defending workers from unfair surveillance or automated decisions, while ensuring AI augment their tasks instead of replacing meaningful work. The principles also emphasize promoting fairness, non-discrimination, and respect for human dignity in AI applications.
These tenets closely relate to the "Ten Principles for Workers' Data Rights," which focus on empowering workers with control and protection over their personal data generated and used by AI systems. The Workers' Data Rights principles advocate for transparency, access, control, and participation regarding data collection and AI-driven decisions impacting workers, aligning with the objectives of the ethical AI principles.
Together, these principles serve as a comprehensive framework to ensure that AI adoption in labor environments is fair, transparent, and aligned with workers' interests. By promoting ethical AI and upholding workers' data rights, unions aim to foster a work environment that respects human agency in an era of increasing automation.
Workers' rights, dignity, and health are paramount as artificial intelligence (AI) technology advances and invades various sectors. Unions must take immediate action to ensure the transparency, fairness, and non-discrimination of AI, as these ethical principles align with the safeguarding of workers' interests and rights.
