TRADE unions launched a report on artificial intelligence (AI) at the Senedd today, warning that the technology is already here and workers in Wales are losing out.
The report from the Wales TUC documents for the first time how workers are being negatively affected by the unregulated introduction of AI into Welsh workplaces.
It details examples of AI being used to make people redundant, manage workers out of their jobs for not meeting targets set by the technology and put creative workers’ images, voices and creations at risk of being stolen.
The WTUC report flags up workers’ concerns, including increased surveillance, intensification of work, heightened discrimination and job losses.
Wales TUC general secretary Shavanah Taj said: “Our findings are deeply troubling and demonstrate that conversations about AI and work are not academic parlour games — the impacts are real, often negative and are happening now.
“We will fight to ensure that our workers have a voice and control over any changes to their workplaces and working conditions.”
The findings also include positive examples of AI’s impact, such as lecturers in further education institutions working alongside management to introduce the technology in their work.
Manon Eames from the Writers Guild of Britain said workers in creative industries were already being adversely affected.
“One actor was congratulated for an audiobook he had read and it turned out he knew nothing about it and his voice had been replicated from online recordings of him,” Ms Eames said.
Welsh Labour Senedd Member Sarah Murphy, who sponsored the WTUC launch with party colleague Jack Sargeant, said the issue was all about priorities.
She said: “£19 billion in benefits are unclaimed and AI could be used to ensure that money is delivered to the people who need it.”
British Telecom CWU representative Eugene Caparros said his members across different employers faced surveillance through “smart” watches and AI monitoring which “reports workers who are yawning to their managers.”
The unions called on the Welsh government to use its role as an employer in the devolved public sector to set an example, to develop guidance and to promote and monitor best practice in worker participation.
At the Britain-wide level, the TUC has set up an AI task force and demanded that protections be enshrined in law.
