UNIONS should be given new Treasury-backed powers to prevent AI-based automation of jobs increasing regional inequality, a major three-year study said today.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Christopher Pissarides called for unions to get “digital access, collective rights to information and new e-learning roles” in a series of recommendations by the Institute for the Future of Work (IFOW) think tank.

He said: “The value and potential of trade unions in the governance of AI and automation technologies should be recognised to surface and redress difficult issues, counter information imbalances and help deliver improved outcomes through meaningful partnership working.