US Department of Labor announces new guidelines for AI in the workplace

(WIBC) — On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced a set of principles for employers to follow regarding the development and use of AI alongside human workers.

This comes after President Biden signed an executive order directed at the DoL requesting the principles be made both for developers and employers. The DoL press release states that these policies will “create a roadmap for developers and employers on how to harness AI technologies for their businesses while ensuring workers benefit from new opportunities created by AI and are protected from its potential harms.”

The press release even points out that unions have been bargaining for agreements in recent years to gain protections from AI and automated systems in the workplace.

The 8 principles listed include:

Centering Worker Empowerment: Allowing workers to have input on the design, development, testing, training, use, and oversight of AI.

Ethically Developing AI: AI systems should be designed, developed, and trained to protect workers.

Establishing AI Governance and Human Oversight: Having systems in place to observe the procedures, and evaluation processes for AI systems used in the workplace.

Ensuring Transparency in AI Use: Employers should be transparent with workers about the AI systems already being used in the workplace.

Protecting Labor and Employment Rights: AI systems should not violate or undermine workers right to organize, health and safety rights, wage and hour rights, and anti-discrimination protections.

Using AI to Enable Workers: AI Systems should assist and enable workers to improve job quality.

Supporting Workers Impacted by AI: Employers should support or upskill workers during job transitions related to AI.

Ensuring Responsible Use of Worker Data: Data collected by AI should be limited in scope and location, only to support legitimate business aims and handled responsibly.