Promoting human-centred AI in the workplace
Subtitle
Trade unions and their strategies for regulating the use of AI in Germany
Publication date
2022-12-23
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
ISSN
Series or journal
Transfer
Periodical volume
29
Periodical issue
1
First page
53
Last page
70
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Keyword
Industrial relations
Trade unions
Co-determination
Technological change
Digitalisation
Artificial intelligence
Abstract
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is changing the world of work. For trade unions, the issue of how to regulate the use of AI is a central but difficult topic because the technology is still at an early stage and experience on its use limited. Focusing on Germany, this article addresses the following questions: (1) what areas of application and use cases for AI are relevant for trade unions and works councils?, (2) what role do trade union positions and demands play in the political discussion on regulating the use of AI?, (3) what strategies are trade unions using to influence the regulation and use of AI in the workplace?, and (4) what experiences are they gaining during this process? Reviewing trade union strategies, this article shows which concepts of human-centred AI the trade unions are trying to promote, how they try to ensure that works councils and trade unionists get appropriate training to understand the new technologies, and how dealing with AI is changing the way works councils work. The article also shows how the characteristics of the German system of industrial relations influence discussions on AI and the processes of implementing it in the workplace.
Description
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Version
Published version
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