R Street Institute’s Post

UNI ICTS AND P&M PUT TRADE UNIONS AT THE FOREFRONT OF THE AI REVOLUTION In a joint session between UNI Global Union’s ICTS and Professionals & Managers World Conferences, union leaders and leading tech researchers discussed the transformative power of artificial intelligence on jobs and unions’ responses to advance workers’ rights. The session, “The Impact of New Technology on the World of Work,” showed why unions must be at the forefront of an AI revolution.   https://lnkd.in/e8aQMM3x

Punchy and compelling piece by Omidyar Network CEO, Michael Kubzansky and AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler on how we must support workers' right to be at the table when it comes to consequential decisions about AI: "AI has enormous potential to build prosperity and unleash human creativity, but only if it also works for working people. Ensuring that happens requires giving the voice of workers—the people who will engage with these technologies every day, and whose lives, health, and livelihoods are increasingly affected by AI and automation—a seat at the decision-making table. To be clear, the labor movement is not anti-tech. It’s pro-worker. Together, we’ll work with anyone who will bring workers’ voices to the table. And we’ll hold CEOs who want to barrel recklessly forward without us accountable. Because the stakes of this transformation are massive. This isn’t just about our jobs. AI is touching our relationships, our civil rights, our democracy—every aspect of our lives." Michele Lawrence Jawando Anmol Chaddha Beth Kanter Laura Chavez-Varela Amanda Ballantyne

Google's AI mistakes highlight ongoing challenges in tech. Labor advocates urge worker inclusion in AI decisions for shared prosperity. Unions are key to ensuring AI benefits all. https://smpl.is/8x9g6 #AI #LaborMovement

Artificial intelligence has gone mainstream. As U.S. tech companies have raced to release shockingly powerful large language models, public reaction ran the gamut from rapture to horror. Policymakers from Washington to Beijing realized quickly that generative AI — and successive AI breakthroughs — would crown new market leaders, hand more decisions to machines, put cyberattacks on steroids and fundamentally alter people’s trust in what they see, read or hear. Biden has taken a keen interest in understanding the inner workings of large language models and how the U.S. could turn AI into a lasting economic advantage.

Is there a role for Unions in New Era Organizations? *** This question came to mind as I was reading about the AFL-CIO union seeing new member growth opportunities in response to how companies are implementing AI. Of course, this fits the view of people as interchangeable parts of a machine with technology being a low-cost part. But what if? – what if the company adopted New Era thinking that involved people in distributed decision-making and saw people as critical contributors that can leverage technology? AI has shown itself to be a two-edge sword, capable of giving employees more tools for doing their work, or for an ever-present overseer that micromanages employee work (or replaces them as a cost saving move). How this plays out will likely reveal whether this unionizing movement gains strength or not.

In the advent of an AI revolution, unions will be more important than ever before, so workers can bargain collectively for themselves, for their families, for an equitable society, and for safe AI products. Writing for Fast Company, Liz Shuler of AFL-CIO and Michael Kubzansky of Omidyar Network explain why "empowering workers—from warehouse associates to software engineers—is the most powerful tactic we have to ensure that AI develops in the interests of the many, not the few." https://lnkd.in/eq4UAUMi

Taking on AI with labor unions is the right approach but it won’t work like this. Instead we will form data collaboratives that look like nonprofit credit unions. Each of us will have secure data backpacks that will be our individual accounts. We will earn rewards from those and the shared value of the entire cooperative. Taking on AI with the systems we’ve established for the analog world is like bailing out the Titanic with a teacup. Data unions will be the means by which we will build REgenerative AI with consent, credit, and compensation. Not a single person I’ve heard at ASU+GSV Summit has addressed this. (Except me) We must focus on helping young learners take charge of AI by first owning their learning data. It’s how we can tell our stories for school, work, and life.

When it comes to AI and jobs, everyone wants to avoid a repeat of the China shock in manufacturing. Generative AI holds great possibility to be an engine of increased productivity and higher wages— but *only* if workers get a seat at the table to help determine how it rolls out in the workplace, and only if we, as a society, find ways to better share the returns from productivity improvements with them. People rush to UBI as the answer, but it's unions that hold the key to how this can happen (there are other keys, too—topic for another post). I elaborate on this in Fast Company with AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler

I found this Littler article regarding the Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright and its impact on potential federal legislation regarding AI. It's interesting in light of advanced efforts at the state level (e.g., in Colorado and, to an extent, California) that would seemingly withstand some of the non-delegation concerns raised in Loper Bright. Worth a read. https://lnkd.in/dj_E2ipA #ai #artificialintelligence #ailaw #loperbright #technology #techlaw #tech #regulation #policy #sb1047

Automation and artificial intelligence will have profound effects on the labor market. In some cases, jobs can be completely replaced by machines and digital systems. But in most cases, we will see changes in tasks and processes. How can both workers and firms benefit from automation and AI? The Swedish industry offers important lessons, according to a doctoral thesis from the Stockholm School of Economics. #AI #unions