Public call for government regulation of generative AI at work - Prospect union polling

New polling by leading tech trade union Prospect has found that workers overwhelmingly believe government should set rules around the use of generative AI (such as ChatGPT) to protect jobs, with 58% of workers supporting regulation.

Just 12% of workers thought that the government should not interfere in the implementation of generative AI, believing that the benefits are likely to outweigh the costs.

Workers also reported a low level of confidence that they would be consulted by their employer on the introduction of new technology at work, with 45% believing they would not be involved in such decisions.

The polling also found workers are deeply uncomfortable with surveillance at work and the use of software to make automated hiring and promotion decisions.

71% of workers would be uncomfortable with their employer using wearable tracking devices to monitor where they were, with only 15% being comfortable with the use of such technology.

Use of cameras to monitor hybrid and remotes workers in their homes was similarly unpopular, with 69% of those polled being uncomfortable with this kind of surveillance, and just 14% comfortable with it.

Keystroke monitoring – assessing how often and quickly workers were using their keyboard at home – made 59% of workers feel uncomfortable, compared to 22% who would be content with its introduction.

Removing human oversight of crucial HR decisions was also unpopular. Only 17% of workers would be comfortable with decisions about who to hire and who to promote being made by algorithms rather than a person, compared to 62% who would be uncomfortable.

Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect union, said:

“With AI and tech already transforming how people work, governance and regulation has lagged behind despite strong public support for setting rules to prevent its abuse.

“Advances in technology have the potential to bring huge benefits to both employers and workers, but without government setting out clear rules, sinister surveillance and software supervisors could become the norm.

“As the way we work changes, workers should join a union to ensure they have a strong voice fighting for a future of work that is fair.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

• The polling for Prospect union was carried out by Opinium Research between 17^th-19^th May 2023. Sample size was 1,113 working adults.
• Other findings included:
  • Almost a quarter (22%) of workers reported their employers having introduced technology to monitor employees.
  • One-in-four (24%) of workers are worried about the potential of generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT) to make their job redundant.
  • One third of workers (34%) aren’t confident that they know what data their employer collects about them at work.
  • Only half of workers (56%) are confident that their employer uses any data collected about them for appropriate purposes.