Microsoft and Labor Unions Team Up to Ensure a Fair Future for Workers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft, the software giant, is partnering with labor unions to launch an “open dialogue” on the impact of artificial intelligence on workers.

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The goals of the company

Liz Schuler’s opinion

The goals of the company

The partnership aims to ensure a fair future for workers in the age of artificial intelligence,
which comes amid growing concerns that AI could replace human labor.

Under the partnership, Microsoft, headquartered in Washington,
will provide labor leaders and workers with formal training on how AI works.
The company will also collect feedback from labor groups and focus on unions and workers in “selected key sectors.”

The alliance’s goals include “sharing in-depth information with labor leaders and workers about the trends in AI technology, incorporating the views and experiences of workers into the development of this technology,” and “helping to shape public policy that supports technological skills and the needs of frontline workers.”

Liz Schuler’s opinion

Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO and the Industrial Workers of the World coalition,
said the partnership “reflects the recognition of the critical role that workers play in developing,
deploying, and organizing AI and related technologies.”

In a related development, Microsoft agreed to include language governing its use of AI in a contract covering a few hundred employees at the company’s ZeniMax video game studio.
The preliminary agreement is part of negotiations with American Communications Workers of America,
and it is the first U.S. collective bargaining agreement in Microsoft’s history.

The language includes Microsoft’s previously announced six AI principles, which the company commits to ensuring that systems “treat all people fairly” and “empower everyone and ensure their participation.”

The new agreement, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News,
commits Microsoft to “apply these AI principles across all of our AI technologies,
to help employees achieve greater productivity, development, and satisfaction in the work they do.”

Microsoft and Labor Unions Team Up to Ensure a Fair Future

Microsoft and Labor Unions Team Up to Ensure a Fair Future

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