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Best Practices for Artificial Intelligence Published by the U.S. Department of Labor

Best Practices for Artificial Intelligence Published by the U.S. Department of Labor

The U.S. Department of Labor released a list of artificial intelligence best practices for developers and employers this week, aiming to help employers benefit from the potential time and money savings of AI , while protecting workers against discrimination and dismissal.

The voluntary guidelines come about a year after President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at assessing the innovation potential and risks of AI in government and private sectors. The order directs the creation of the White House AI Council, the creation of a framework for federal agencies to follow regarding privacy protections, and a list of guidelines for securing AI talent, to manage labor market effects and to ensure fairness in AI. use, among others.

“Harnessing AI for good and realizing its myriad benefits requires mitigating its substantial risks,” Biden said of last year’s executive order. “This effort requires a society-wide effort, including government, the private sector, academia and civil society. »

The Ministry of Labor’s guide, “Artificial Intelligence and Worker Well-Being: Principles and Best Practices for Developers and Employers”, was developed with input from public listening sessions and from workers, unions, researchers, academics , employers and developers. It aims to mitigate the risks of discrimination, data breaches and job replacement by AI, while promoting possible innovation and production.

“Whether AI in the workplace harms workers and deepens inequality or supports workers and unlocks vast opportunities depends (largely) on the decisions we make,” the secretary said. Acting Minister of Labor, Julie Su. “The stakes are high.”

The report shares eight principles and best practices, with centering workers as the “north star”. The guide states that workers, particularly those from underserved communities, should understand and participate in the design, development, testing, training, use and monitoring of AI systems used on their workplace. This will improve job quality and enable businesses to achieve their goals. Unions should negotiate in good faith over the use of AI and electronic monitoring in the workplace, he says.

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Other best practices include ethical AI development, with training that protects and considers worker feedback. Organizations should also have a clear governance system for evaluating AI used in the workplace, and they should be transparent about the AI ​​systems they use, the Labor Ministry said.

AI systems cannot violate or undermine workers’ rights to organize, nor interfere with their health, safety, wage, anti-discrimination and anti-retaliation protections, the department said . Therefore, before deployment, employers should audit their AI systems for potential impacts of discrimination on the basis of “race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disability, l ‘age, genetic information and other protected bases’, and should make these results public.

The report also describes how employers can and should help workers with AI. Before implementing an AI tool, employers should think about the impact it will have on job opportunities and should be clear about the specific tasks it will perform. Employers who experience productivity gains or increased profits should consider sharing the benefits with their workers, such as through increased wages, better benefits or training, the Labor Department said .

Implementing AI systems has the potential to displace workers, Su said in his summary. To alleviate this problem, employers should properly train their employees in the use of these systems and reassign AI-displaced workers to other jobs within their organization when possible. Employers should tap into state and local workforce training and development programs so their workforce can learn new skills and not be phased out by technology.

Finally, AI employers who collect worker data should protect that data, should not collect more data than is absolutely necessary, and should not share that data outside the company without freely given consent. workers.

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The guidelines set by the Department of Labor are not intended to be “a substitute for existing or future federal or state laws and regulations,” it says, but rather a “guiding framework for businesses” that can be customized with comments from their workers.

“We should view AI as a potentially powerful technology for worker well-being, and we should harness our collective human talents to design and use AI with workers as its beneficiaries, not as obstacles to innovation,” Su said.

Voice of Oklahoma is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains its editorial independence. Contact editor Janelle Stecklein with any questions: [email protected]. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook And Twitter.