On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor released a set of principles for employers to follow when it comes to developing and using AI with human workers.
This comes after President Biden signed an executive order directing the Department of Defense to establish principles for both developers and employers. In a DoL press release, these policies are aimed at “how to leverage AI technology in business while ensuring that workers benefit from the new opportunities created by AI and are protected from its potential harms.” “We will create a roadmap for developers and employers on this.”
The press release even notes that unions have been negotiating agreements in recent years to gain protection from AI and automated systems in the workplace.
The eight principles listed are:
Center worker empowerment: Give workers input into the design, development, testing, training, use, and monitoring of AI.
Ethical development of AI: AI systems must be designed, developed, and trained to protect workers.
Establish AI governance and human oversight: Put systems in place to monitor procedures and evaluation processes for AI systems used in the workplace.
Ensuring transparency in AI use: Employers must be transparent with workers about the AI systems already in use in the workplace.
Protection of labor and employment rights: AI systems must not violate or impair workers’ rights to organize, health and safety rights, wage and hour rights, and anti-discrimination protections.
Enabling workers with AI: AI systems should be able to assist workers and improve the quality of their work.
Support workers affected by AI: Employers should support or upskill workers during AI-related job transitions.
Ensuring responsible use of worker data: Data collected by AI should be limited in scope and location and processed responsibly, only to support legitimate business purposes.
