Posts tagged AI
Commentary: The Hollywood Strikes Stopped AI From Taking Your Job. But for How Long?
December 28, 2023 // The “learn to code” crowd has all new ammo. Even Biden’s executive order was clear about the fact that the US government wanted to attract the best and brightest in the field. But that’s job creation, not job displacement. New technologies create jobs all the time, but with AI, some of those jobs pay pennies. What’s more, AI can also ask you to train it to do your job before picking up your tools. Going forward, the likelihood that AI will displace many entry-level jobs while creating a few highly skilled gigs seems high. The biggest questions in AI right now nearly all revolve around what these machines are learning from people, whether it’s human skill or human bias.
McLayoffs Incoming: McDonalds Embracing Google’s AI For Online Ordering
December 14, 2023 // The American worker's plan to phase themselves out of the job market once and for all is almost complete. At least, that's what the case looks to be like at McDonald's. The fast food restaurant, which has already adopted self-serve kiosks in store, is now tapping Google's AI for its online ordering experience. In a press release out late last week, McDonald's said the partnership "is a significant step for McDonald's in advancing its restaurant technology platform to become the most sophisticated and productive in the industry."
VIDEO: Microsoft tries to address AI labor concerns with new AFL-CIO pact and ‘neutrality framework’
December 13, 2023 // The AFL-CIO and Microsoft said the agreement includes a “neutrality framework” that will apply to future efforts by workers to organize under affiliated unions. They said the framework confirms “a joint commitment to respect the right of employees to form or join unions, to develop positive and cooperative labor-management relationships, and to negotiate collective bargaining agreements that will support workers in an era of rapid technological change.” AI has emerged as a wedge issue in a wide range of labor negotiations over the past year, including the now-settled strikes by Hollywood screenwriters and actors.
AFL-CIO And Microsoft Announce Deal For AI Training And Labor Neutrality
December 12, 2023 // The agreement will provide formalized training opportunities for union members and students on artificial intelligence beginning in the winter of 2024 and conducted by Microsoft’s AI experts. These trainings will give participants a deeper dive into the use of AI in specific careers, enabling them to utilize the technology rather than be replaced by it. The agreement also provides the AFL-CIO the opportunity to influence and participate in the development of new AI offerings from Microsoft.
Why strikes are working and which industries could be next
November 14, 2023 // A similar story could play out for other workers who endured hardships during the pandemic — and whose industries are still struggling to fill open positions, including teachers, childcare professionals, and food service workers. "From meatpacking plants to grocery stores and coffee shops, workers are realizing more than ever, not just how essential they are, but the strength that comes from standing together to improve their working conditions," Dave Young, International Vice President for the United Food and Commercial Workers union, told Insider.
Opinion: Why stop at the four-day workweek?
November 9, 2023 // s. Second, let workers unionize and collectively bargain rather than firing them for it. The road, though, doesn’t end there. “One thing you need,” said Benanav, “is something that was never really achieved in the US: actual sectoral bargaining. Not just collective bargaining at the firm level, but at the industry level.” Sectoral bargaining means unions would negotiate standards that apply to all workers in an industry, not just those who work in unionized firms. To complement that greater representation, workers would also benefit from social programs like unconditional cash transfers, universal healthcare, or as the pandemic showed, stronger unemployment insurance. We already saw early tremors of the power such reforms can hold as part of the surprisingly generous US policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly the boosted unemployment insurance. “A lot of that was giving people resources to just make their own decisions,” said Konczal.
Google contractors objected to reading obscene Bard prompts — now they’re unionizing
November 9, 2023 // They first started unionization efforts in June after they were directed to work on the then-unannounced Bard chatbot. As part of their efforts to help train the bot, they were asked to “handle obscene, graphic and offensive prompts,” according to a report from Bloomberg. When one of the contractors filed a complaint with Accenture’s human resources department about the content, Bloomberg reports their work was outsourced to Accenture workers in Manila. Just weeks after the contract actors announced their unionization campaign, dozens of contractors were laid off, leaving only about 40 out of 120 workers with their jobs.
AI JITTERS IN THE WORKPLACE: STRATEGIES TO ENCOURAGE WORKERS TO EMBRACE NEW TECHNOLOGY
October 19, 2023 // The AI fear is definitely real, too. An APA study revealed that 4 out of 10 workers fret over being replaced by AI. Goldman Sachs predicted that at least 300 million jobs could be on the line, and Forrester reports that 45 million workers could lose jobs by 2030. OpenAI adds that 80% of workers will see daily tasks affected, and a Pew Research Center report shows that over 50% of Americans worry about AI’s potentially harmful effects. Also important to note We don’t know how Chat GPT will evolve or devolve. We don’t know how the government will fully regulate it and other AI tools. In other words, hang tight and be ready to adapt. By adopting efforts to include solutions in your positive employee relations efforts, you can boost engagement, retention, and communicate to your employees that you have their technology concerns in mind.
More workers move to create unions — but that doesn’t always mean more members
October 16, 2023 // Data from the National Labor Relations Board released on Friday shows the number of union petitions filed in the past year — from October 2022 to September of this year — rose 3%. That’s on top of a whopping 53% increase the year before. More union petitions doesn’t immediately mean more union members, however. The tight labor market is making workers more comfortable with circulating petitions to unionize, according to Gordon Lafer at the University of Oregon.
Musk May Face Someone Else Who’s Ready for a Cage Fight
October 10, 2023 // The long-running decline in union membership mirrors the decline in Detroit’s share of the US vehicle market. That was 90% during the industry’s, and organized labor’s, 1960s heyday. By the time of the debacle of 2009, it had fallen to about 50%. Now it’s closer to 40%. As Kevin Tynan, automotive analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, points out, the Big Three have effectively downsized by ditching cheaper models and focusing on higher-priced trucks and SUVs to chase profits. As they attempt to open up a new avenue of growth, EVs, they are confronted with big near-term costs that higher pay settlements will exacerbate. “The UAW must broaden its view if it is going to increase its membership,” says Tynan, adding “they have to stop only going back to GM, Ford and Stellantis. There is no more blood in those stones.” The UAW has been aware of this for some time, which is why it targeted foreign automakers’ factories — so called “transplants” — and Tesla itself at various points over the past decade. Such effort has been largely in vain. Tesla, meanwhile, has become profitable at scale only recently. The company’s identity as a disruptive newcomer, with plants far from the UAW’s heartland around the Great Lakes, is another barrier. It is harder to entice workers into a union when their employer is hiring at breakneck speed rather than shedding thousands of jobs. Tesla has also pushed back aggressively against unionization, as those NLRB rulings attest (Tesla is appealing several of these).