Posts tagged OpenAI
Google DeepMind workers are unionizing over AI military contracts
May 6, 2026 // Staffers at Google DeepMind’s headquarters have voted to unionize in an effort to prevent the AI firm’s technology from being used by Israel and the US military. In a letter to Google management on Tuesday, employees requested that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union be recognized as joint representatives, with 98 percent of CWU members at DeepMind voting in support of the move.
Unions Attack AI for Menacing Human Jobs
May 1, 2026 // Last week, the leaders of some of the largest trade unions in the US came together for a conference with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Axios reports. Together, they presented a united opposition against tech companies pushing AI and robotics into labor, renewing Sanders’ call for a pause on AI development until there are ample safety nets in place to catch workers whom labor leaders fear will be displaced. “We are here to sound the alarms on AI,” president of stories AFL-CIO Liz Shuler said at the press conference. “This race that everybody seems to think we’re in to advance AI at all costs — with no guardrails or protections for people — is reckless and dangerous.”
Op-ed: The $921M Special Interest Machine That Controls California
February 21, 2026 // The California Policy Center’s analysis lays it bare: California’s public sector unions collected $921 million in 2018 alone. That’s not campaign contributions—that’s annual revenue. The prize they’re protecting? According to Govern For California, state and local governments spend $240 billion per year on public employee compensation and benefits.
Hollywood union strikes deal for advertisers to replicate actors’ voices with AI
August 19, 2024 // Video game voice actors and motion-capture performers called a strike last month over failed labor contract negotiations focused on AI-related protections for workers. Legislation called the NO FAKES Act has been introduced in Congress and would give every person a right to their own voice and likeness, making AI copying without permission illegal. SAG-AFTRA, the Motion Picture Association, The Recording Academy and Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab support the bill. Proliferation of so-called deepfakes, which are highly realistic videos generated by AI trained on actual voices and images, and their role in manipulating public opinion have also raised alarm worldwide.
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.
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.
LA Strikes Embody Widespread Anxiety Over Worker Pay, Rise of AI
July 31, 2023 // The city has almost accidentally become a microcosm for worker unrest. Actors and writers—on strike simultaneously for the first time since 1960—have paralyzed Hollywood. Cleaners and cooks are sporadically picketing outside hotels, including the Beverly Hilton, the longtime venue of the Golden Globe Awards. Thousands of UPS drivers could strike next week if the Teamsters rank and file don’t quickly approve a tentative agreement announced Tuesday, following in the footsteps of port workers who walked off the job last month. Los Angeles Unified School District teachers also went on strike this year, winning a 30% pay increase after more than 400,000 students were out of class for three days. And in May, performers at a North Hollywood bar formed the first strippers’ union in the US in nearly three decades. Companies say they’re being unfairly blamed for the rising cost of living while they try to find common ground with unions—a dominant source of worker angst that has also resulted in California having the highest rate of homelessness in the nation.