EMPLOYMENT law is failing to keep pace with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI), leaving huge gaps in workers’ protections, the TUC and legal experts warned today.

A new report by the TUC and the AI Law Consultancy warns that without new legal protections, the use of AI at work could lead to widespread discrimination and unfair treatment.

Workers will become increasingly vulnerable and powerless to challenge “inhuman” forms of AI performance management, the report says. 

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “This is a fork in the road. AI at work could be used to improve productivity and working lives. 

“But it is already being used to make life-changing decisions about people at work — like who gets hired and fired.”

Ms O’Grady said workers must have the right to have AI-based decisions reviewed by a human manager and that the technology must be used for good rather than to “set punishing targets and rob workers of their dignity.”

GMB London region organiser Steve Garelick hoped that the report would prompt ministers to address calls for legal reforms for the ethical use of AI at work.

“Workers could lose their job to a computer algorithm or not be selected for a job due to the use of AI,” he said.

“We have heard from our members reporting that they feel their whereabouts and activity is constantly being monitored via the technology they use at work.”

Prospect union research director Andrew Pakes said: “Workers need to know when they are being monitored, they need to be consulted on the introduction of this technology, and there has to be transparency so that decisions made by algorithms or on the back of this data can be challenged.”