UK Lawmakers Sound Alarmed on Threat to Workers by AI Chatbots

Tom Rees
·3-min read

(Bloomberg) -- UK lawmakers have urged regulators to take action to head off “significant risks” posed to workers by the boom of artificial intelligence programs including ChatGPT.

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Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said a new taskforce on AI should probe whether legislation needs to be updated to protect workers from upheaval.

The report from backbencher members of Parliament from the main political parties suggests that the rapid development of AI will face intense scrutiny from regulators in the coming years as technology threatens to transform work. The emergence of chatbots, such as OpenAI Inc.’s ChatGPT, has sparked debate over whether it will kill swathes of jobs or unlock a productivity boom that benefits workers.

“There is a significant risk from the lack of attention on the unwelcome or unintended consequences of the use of technology and automation in the workplace, whether that is in the warehouse or in a worker’s home,” the committee said in a report on the UK labor market released Friday.

The report raised concerns over retraining workers for the emerging technologies and questioned whether current laws protect rights and privacy when AI is used in recruitment and the surveillance of workers.

The findings amplify concerns that US officials also have voiced. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said artificial intelligence is the next technology that could get support — and new guardrails — from the US government. Senate Democrats are accelerating discussions about how to respond to the surge in AI technology in a way that replicates a bipartisan act meant support US semiconductor manufacturing.

The BEIS committee in Britain took a different tone. It acknowledged the automation’s “enormous potential” but recommended that a taskforce should be created by regulators alongside the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and the Trades Union Congress, which represents UK unions.

The taskforce “should consider whether enforcement of labor laws is effective, and to make recommendations on whether further legislation is required,” it added.

The government set out an initial approach to AI in a paper last month, which warned against “heavy-handed legislation” and asked existing regulators, including the Competition and Markets Authority and the Human Rights Commission, to tackle the technology themselves.

The so-called white paper said AI systems should comply with existing laws, not discriminate against individuals, their decision-making processes should be safe and transparent, and there should be accountability for its outcomes.

It comes after the TUC warned on Tuesday that the government is failing to stop workers from being “exploited” by emerging AI technologies that may destroy jobs.

“The government is refusing to put in place the necessary guardrails to stop people from being exploited,” said Kate Bell, TUC assistant general secretary. “On the one hand ministers are refusing to properly regulate AI. And on the other hand, they are watering down important protections through the data bill. This will leave workers more vulnerable to unscrupulous employers.”

The BEIS Committee also warned in its report that there is weak enforcement of general workers’ rights in the UK and that shortages are holding back growth.

Its chair Darren Jones said workers are being “exposed to exploitative practices without any consequence, rendering their rights worthless.”

Read more:

  • Schumer Says Congress May Give Support — and Guardrails — for AI

--With assistance from Thomas Seal.

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