(Birkenhead) (Lab)
I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to regulate the use of
artificial intelligence technologies in the workplace; to make
provision about workers’ and trade union rights in relation to
the use of artificial intelligence technologies; and for
connected purposes.
The pursuit of fairness, dignity and security in work is the
founding purpose of the labour movement, from its earliest
beginnings amid the turmoil of the first industrial revolution to
the present day. As Sir warned when he appeared
before the Science, Innovation, and Technology Committee on 3
May, we are now living through an AI revolution that will be
every bit as far reaching as the first industrial revolution.
Alongside the climate crisis, it will create the most profound
social changes of any of our lifetimes.
For too long, the rapid advances in artificial intelligence have
gone unremarked upon by policymakers, but the speed of progress
in this field is now gaining such momentum that it is impossible
to ignore. The pace of change is exceeding even the expectations
of AI’s most enthusiastic supporters. Technologies that experts
speculated only recently were a decade away from fruition, are
now a reality. It is time that our laws caught up.
This technological revolution will impact every aspect of our
society. The potential of AI to be used by malign actors to
disseminate dangerous misinformation has serious implications for
our national security. We also need to consider how to protect
our constituents from fraud—the most commonly reported crime in
the UK—when artificial intelligence can imitate banks and even
loved ones with increasing sophistication.
The rise of AI will force to us rethink our long-held assumptions
about the labour market. Research commissioned by the then
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy suggests
that 7% of all British jobs could be automated out of existence
within just five years because of AI, rising to 30% within the
next 20 years.
To ready ourselves for a world where machines can increasingly do
the jobs of humans at a fraction of the price, we need to be
prepared to break with old orthodoxies. That must mean
considering the role that universal basic income has to play in a
labour market that will see jobs becoming scarcer, as well as the
necessity of investing in lifelong education and training in a
world where few people can count on having a job for life.
The Bill I am introducing to the House today does not attempt to
address all the issues relating to the uses and misuses of AI. I
do not believe that Parliament is capable of even beginning to do
that yet. If we are going to make sure that AI works in all our
interests, we need to see genuine collaboration between
government and civic society, including the trade unions and the
communities that we represent, and the fostering of an
environment in which everyone’s voices and interests can be
heard.
The central purpose of the Bill is simple: it seeks to protect
the rights of those who are working alongside AI in their shops,
offices, factories and services, and to preserve those rights for
future generations to come. Fundamentally, it is about
recognising the importance of people in a world increasingly run
by machines.
Artificial intelligence is already transforming many people’s
experience at work. A growing number of employers are
incorporating AI-powered technologies into their workplaces,
often without their workers being consulted or even informed.
According to Government statistics, 68% of large companies in the
UK and 15% of all British businesses had adopted at least one
form of AI by January 2022. With these technologies becoming more
sophisticated and readily available, that number is set to
soar.
The TUC’s AI working group has been at the forefront of exploring
the implications of using AI in the workplace. Its report into
the worker experience of AI is perhaps the most comprehensive and
insightful study into the impact of artificial intelligence on
workers ever conducted in this country. It provides a valuable
insight into how AI-powered technologies are increasingly being
used to monitor, evaluate and manage workers.
The report highlights how the responsibilities of human managers
are being replaced by AIs. Such technologies are technically
capable of performing management functions, but they lack a
human’s capacity for empathy, their understanding that every
person is different or their ability to contextualise behaviour.
The TUC report shows all of that is too often being done without
any meaningful consultation with or input from the workers
themselves. As a result, workers are increasingly being forced to
navigate workplaces in which their autonomy and privacy are being
eroded, the distinctions between home and work life blurred, and
substantial quantities of workers’ data is being stored and used
with little or no transparency.
This technological revolution also poses a profound challenge to
the hard fought for right to equality at work. Employers are
relying ever more frequently on AI to make decisions about hiring
and employee performance. The problem is that these technologies
can all too often perpetuate very human prejudices. In one of the
most high-profile cases, Amazon was forced to scrap an AI tool
that had been used to sift through the CVs of job applicants
after the tool had learned that the majority of previous hires in
this disproportionately male industry were men and had taught
itself to downgrade applications from women. In another case
highlighted by the TUC, disabled job applicants felt that they
had been unfairly discriminated against by an AI based on their
voice and facial expressions.
I want to make it clear that I am not opposed to artificial
intelligence. Just as I recognise that AI has the awesome
potential to improve our lives for the better in creating
positive health outcomes and driving economic growth, I also
believe that, when applied correctly, AI can make our working
lives easier and more fulfilling. If I am a luddite, it is only
in the truest meaning of that often-misunderstood word, in that I
believe that we need to critically engage with rather than
blindly accept the technology that surrounds us.
I also believe that in the workplace, as in wider society, we
must guarantee that artificial intelligence works in the
interests of the many, not the few. That is why, for the first
time, the Bill would give workers specific protections to
mitigate against the harmful application of AI.
I regret that I have been unable to print the Bill in time for
the debate, but it will shortly be available for all Members to
consider. I want to be clear: I do not intend this Bill to gather
dust in the House of Commons Library. While I am realistic about
its chances of becoming law, I hope that it can at least begin a
much-needed conversation in this place about the steps that we
need to take to better protect workers.
In the meantime, I will highlight some of its key provisions. My
Bill is rooted in three key principles: first, that everyone
should be free from discrimination in the workplace; secondly,
that workers have the right to have a say in the big decisions
that affect them; and finally, that we all have a right to
understand how our data is being used at work.
Drawing on the recommendations of the TUC manifesto, “Dignity at
Work and the AI Revolution”, the Bill establishes that
“high-risk” use of AI should be targeted for further regulation
and requires the Secretary of State to produce sector-specific
guidance on the meaning of high-risk AI, with full input from
trade unions and civil society. The Bill would ensure workers’
themselves can shape a world being ever more frequently run by
machines, by introducing a statutory duty for employers to
meaningfully consult with employees and their trade unions before
introducing AI into the workplace.
The Bill would strengthen existing equalities law to prevent
discrimination by algorithm. This includes amending the Data
Protection Act 2018 to explicitly state that discriminatory data
processing is always unlawful; amending the Employment Rights Act
1996 to create a statutory right, enforceable in employment
tribunals, that workers should not be subject to detrimental
treatment as a result of the processing of inaccurate data;
reversing the burden of proof in discrimination claims that
challenge decisions made by AI; and making equality impact audits
a mandatory part of the data protection impact assessment, which
employers would also be obliged to publish.
The Bill would establish a universal and comprehensive right to
human review of high-risk decisions that have been made by AI, as
well as a right to human contact when high-risk decisions are
being made. Finally, it would protect workers from intrusion into
their private lives by establishing a right for them to
disconnect—that cause, I know, is also being championed by my
friends on the Front Bench—and would require the Government to
publish statutory guidance for employers on how both article 8 of
the European convention on human rights and data protection law
should be applied in workplaces, so that they have enough clarity
about the steps they need to take to protect the privacy and
work-life balances of their employees.
In short, the Bill seeks to forge a people-focused and
rights-based approach which will guarantee that workers are
protected in all decisions made by employers and the
Government.
Question put and agreed to.
Ordered,
That , , , , , , , , , , and present the Bill.
accordingly presented the
Bill.
Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time on Friday 24
November, and to be printed (Bill 309).
