Microsoft Plans to Involve Labor Unions in Conversations Regarding the Effects of AI on Employees.

Microsoft has announced its intention to involve labor leaders in discussions regarding the development and utilization of artificial intelligence technology. The company, a significant investor in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, revealed that it has entered into an agreement with the AFL-CIO to establish an “open dialogue” addressing AI’s influence on the future of employment.

In a joint statement, Microsoft and the AFL-CIO declared, “This collaboration represents a pioneering effort between a labor organization and a technology firm, with a specific focus on AI.”

The joint statement outlined three primary objectives for this new collaboration:

1. The sharing of AI trend information with labor leaders and workers.
2. Incorporating worker perspectives into the development of AI technology.
3. Contributing to the formation of public policies that support the technological skills and requirements of frontline workers.

Additionally, the partnership will feature training sessions led by Microsoft for workers and students on the latest AI advancements, with the inaugural educational sessions scheduled for 2024.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chair and President, emphasized the importance of working directly with labor leaders to ensure that AI benefits the workforce. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler also highlighted the significance of this partnership, recognizing the vital role workers play in the development, deployment, and regulation of AI and related technologies. Shuler expressed the labor movement’s anticipation for collaborating with Microsoft to promote worker-centered design, workforce training, and trustworthy AI practices.

This announcement comes at a time when business leaders and policymakers are contemplating the extensive potential impacts of AI on the labor market in the upcoming years. While some prominent figures in the tech industry have extolled the potential for AI to enhance efficiency and reduce workloads, labor leaders and tech industry critics have raised concerns about AI tools displacing jobs. Workers themselves share these anxieties, with an August poll conducted by the AFL-CIO revealing that 70% of respondents were worried about AI leading to job displacement.

Importantly, the partnership disclosed on Monday also encompasses an arrangement in which Microsoft establishes a “neutrality framework” for potential future organizing efforts by workers associated with the AFL-CIO unions and its partner organizations. This expands upon the neutrality agreement that Microsoft previously reached with the Communications Workers of America Union (CWA) last year, particularly during the time when workers at Activision Blizzard were organizing with the CWA in response to Microsoft’s acquisition of the gaming company.

In contrast to the broader tech sector, which has often faced criticism for its resistance to organized labor, Microsoft and the AFL-CIO emphasized in their statement that this new framework “reaffirms a mutual commitment to uphold employees’ rights to establish or join unions” and to “engage in negotiations for collective bargaining agreements that will assist workers in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.”