A new best practices guide from the U.S. Department of Labor outlines how companies should develop and use AI while protecting their employees. (Courtesy of Tierney L. Cross/Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Labor this week released a list of artificial intelligence best practices for developers and employers, aiming to help employers take advantage of the potential time and cost savings of AI, while protecting workers from discrimination and job displacement.
The voluntary guidelines come about a year after President Joe Biden signed an executive order to assess the innovative potential and risks of AI in the government and private sectors. The order established the White House AI Council, created a framework for federal agencies to adhere to regarding privacy protections, and a list of guidelines for securing AI talent to navigate the effects on labor market and for ensuring equality in AI. use, among others.
“Harnessing AI for good and realizing its countless benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks,” Biden said of the executive order last year. “This endeavor requires a whole-of-society effort involving government, the private sector, academia and civil society.”
The DOL guide, “Artificial Intelligence and Worker Wellbeing: Principles and Best Practices for Developers and Employers,” was developed with input from public listening sessions as well as from employees, unions, researchers, academics, employers and developers. It aims to limit the risks of discrimination, data breaches and job replacement by AI, while embracing potential innovation and manufacturing.
“Whether AI in the workplace harms workers and deepens inequality or supports workers and unleashes expanded opportunity depends (in large part) on the decisions we make,” said DOL Acting Secretary Julie Su. “The stakes are high.”
The report shares eight principles and best practices, with the “north star” centered around employees. The guide says employees, especially from underserved communities, should understand and have input into the design, development, testing, training, use and oversight of AI systems used in their workplace. This will improve the quality of employment and enable companies to achieve their results. Unions must negotiate in good faith over the use of AI and electronic surveillance in the workplace, the report said.
Other best practices include developing AI ethically, with training that protects employees and incorporates employee feedback. Organizations must also have a clear governance system to evaluate the AI used in the workplace, and they must be transparent about the AI systems they use, the DOL said.
AI systems cannot violate or undermine workers’ rights to organize, or hinder their health, safety, pay, anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation protections, the ministry said. Therefore, before deploying, employers should check their AI systems for potential effects of discrimination based on “race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, genetic information and other protected bases,” and disclose those results publicly .
The report also outlines how employers can and should help employees with AI. Before implementing an AI tool, employers should consider the impact it will have on employment, and be clear about the specific tasks it will perform. Employers who experience productivity gains or increased profits should consider sharing the benefits with their employees, such as through higher wages, better benefits or training, the DOL said.
The implementation of AI systems has the potential to displace workers, Su said in her summary. To mitigate this, employers should properly train their employees on how to use these systems, and reassign employees displaced by AI to other jobs within their organization if possible. Employers should reach out to state and local workforce education and training programs so that their workforce can learn new skills and not be phased out by technology.
And finally, employers who use AI and collect employee data must protect that data, not collect more data than is absolutely necessary, and not share that data outside the company without the freely given consent of employees.
The guidelines outlined by the DOL are not intended as “a replacement for existing or future federal or state laws and regulations,” the report said, but rather as a “guiding framework for businesses” that can be adjusted with feedback from their employees.
“We should view AI as a potentially powerful technology for employee well-being, and we should leverage our collective human talents to design and use AI with employees as beneficiaries, and not as obstacles to innovation,” Su said.
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