BERLIN (AFP) -- No employee should be “subject to the will of a machine”, European trade union chief Esther Lynch has warned, calling for regulation to ensure humans remain in control as artificial intelligence technology advances at breakneck speed.
In the same way that European Union treaties protect health and safety in the workplace, rules are needed to guarantee “the human-in-control principle” when it comes to AI, Lynch said in an interview ahead of a major gathering of union representatives in Berlin.
“We need to be guaranteed that no worker is subject to the will of a machine,” Lynch told AFP, a scenario she said would be “dystopian”.
Lynch, general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) since last December, will head the four-day ETUC Congress that kicked off in the German capital on Tuesday.
The event, held every four years, brings together hundreds of union officials from more than 40 countries to discuss topics ranging from workers’ rights to the future of work, environmental protection, inequality and cross-border union cooperation.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were among the speakers scheduled to address the congress.
Ever since the wildly popular AI chatbot ChatGPT burst onto the scene late last year, debate has been swirling about how the technology will upend the world of work, potentially transforming many jobs along the way.
While supporters point out that AI tools can take over automated or repetitive tasks and free up staff to do more creative work, skeptics worry about job cuts, data protection and losing a human element in some decision-making processes.
Lynch, 60, said AI regulation was one of the topics she would be discussing with the EU’s Jobs and Social Rights Commissioner Nicolas Schmit during the congress.
With every technology there’s “a positive side and a negative side, and the same will be true of AI,” the Irish woman said.
“What we have seen is that whenever you involve workers and their unions in the introduction of technology… the outcomes are better.”
The EU is currently debating a draft text calling for curbs on how artificial intelligence can be used in Europe, bringing the bloc a step closer to an AI law.