A WIDE-RANGING motion to protect workers from the dangers of artificial intelligence (AI) was passed at the TUC Congress today.

Unions resolved to lobby Labour and the Tories for trade unions to have a legal right to be consulted on the introduction of new technologies.

Delegates also called for musicians to gain an “unwaivable” right to decide whether their creations can be used by AI and to be paid fairly if they allow it.

The government will also be pressed to fund the retraining of workers who lose their jobs to AI and to ensure that employers introduce safeguarding policies to support employees in the new AI-driven workplace.

In addition the TUC will campaign against the use of AI in workplaces without an explicit collective agreement.

Musicians Union delegate Robert Scott quoted the 1958 Danny & the Juniors hit Rock and Roll is Here to Stay as he said that the adoption of AI can’t be stopped.

But he warned that the technology has a “big downside” and has been launched with “virtually no legislation around it.”

The government has proposed a copyright exemption that would allow developers of AI free use of copyrighted books and music for training.

Mr Scott likened this to former prime minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit slogan about “buccaneering Britain,” saying: “We have a new circus but the same old clowns.”

Explaining that AI “uses existing music to create music,” he called for AI companies to pay music creators for the use of their material.

Backing the motion, National Union of Journalists rep Steve Bird asked: “How will we know what’s fake and what’s real?

“We need to have safeguards around that. We need to have safeguards around the bias in journalism.”

Last month, a report by the Commons culture, media and sport committee found that the government’s handling of the AI copyright exemption “shows a clear lack of understanding of the needs of the UK’s creative industries.”