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CWA union rolls out principles for us of AI in workplaces

CWA union rolls out principles for us of AI in workplaces

The Communication Workers of America union has unveiled new guidelines over how it believes artificial intelligence should be used in the workplace.

In a release on its website, the organisation released its principles for how it would be engaging with public policy and guiding how it bargains as a union when it comes to AI.

These guidelines include holding company management accountable for the impact of the use of AI on their workers, as well as being proactive when it comes to fighting the issues that AI tools create in the workplace.

“AI has the potential to build prosperity and unleash human creativity, but only if it works for working people,” CWA president Claude Cummings Jr said.

“We are taking a member-first approach and demanding that working Americans have a voice, guaranteed by their union contract, in how AI shapes the future of work.”

This comes after the CWA established a committee on AI, which includes staff from the organisation's union at Alphabet and Google.

“CWA has a long and proud history of bargaining over new technologies, limiting their negative impacts on workers, customers, and the public while ensuring that workers win their fair share of the economic gains that new technology can achieve," the committee wrote.

"Our goal in bargaining is not to stop new technologies but to ensure the benefits of new technologies are broadly shared.”

The CWA has helped unionise several studios in the United States, including Raven Software and ZeniMax. The organisation's guidelines on artificial intelligence come amid concerns of how the tech will be used to replace or disenfranchise workers in many industries, including video games. 


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PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Calvin is a freelance journalist who writes about the business of games. He started out at UK trade paper MCV in 2013 and left as deputy editor over three years later. In June 2017, he joined Steel Media as the editor for new site PCGamesInsider.biz. In October 2019 he left this full-time position at the company but still contributes to the site on a daily basis. He has also written for GamesIndustry.biz, VGC, Games London, The Observer/Guardian and Esquire UK.