Whether you’re hesitant about AI or excited by its possibilities, one thing is clear: AI is already reshaping the way we work. While predictions of AI replacing jobs in their entirety may be ways off, many employers are using it today to automate certain creative and administrative tasks.
For employers, it’s important to approach this technology with both curiosity and caution. Clear internal policies and proactive oversite can help prevent future or reputational issues.
How is AI Impacting the Workplace?
When considering AI’s impact in today’s work landscape, we’re mostly referring to Generative AI and Large Language Models, or LLMs (such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini).
Artificial Intelligence itself is not new. Many different industries have been using it for decades in applications like chatbots, workflow automations, and certain data processing tasks. When used thoughtfully, AI can be a useful tool for improving efficiency and reducing human error, however, there are caveats as many applications require a human touch.
What Legal Considerations are Already In Place?
The short answer is that there aren’t a lot of strict laws around the use of AI. The technology has evolved rapidly and has, in some areas, outpaced the legal system’s ability to regulate it. That said, regulation is coming, and employers should be prepared to stay up-to-date as new frameworks emerge.
For now, there are a variety of different legal considerations that come with the use of AI. One that has been getting quite a lot of press is intellectual property law. Most current Large Language Models were trained on vast quantities of data “scraped” from the internet. Much of this data, visual and written, was produced by humans who were neither aware of nor compensated for its use in this context. As of this writing, there are 9 in-progress intellectual property lawsuits against AI companies in the United States alone.
What Can Employers Learn From B.C.’s AI Principles?
Outside of copyright issues, AI presents certain ethical challenges including in the workplace. As of 2024, the Government of British Columbia introduced six draft principles for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence. While intended as guidance for government employees and public servants, these principles provide a good example of what a workplace AI policy could look like:
- Transparency: Employees should know when, why, and how AI systems are being used. This information should be as detailed and accessible as possible.
- Accountability: Define who is allowed to use AI, for what purposes, and who is responsible for monitoring its use and output.
- Public Benefit: AI use should serve a clear benefit, for employees and customers – the benefits should outweigh the costs and risks.
- Fairness: Take steps to avoid bias in AI tools, especially where decisions affect hiring, compensation, or performance evaluations.
- Reliability: AI tools should be closely monitored to ensure that their performance is up to standard – it should not be treated as a “set-it-and-forget-it” solution, rather there should be a human element assigned to continuously monitor performance.
- Safety: AI often processes sensitive data. Whether this is someone’s personal health information, a customer’s credit card, or banking details, there should be safeguards and plans in place to mitigate the risk of a data breach, and to repair the system should a breach occur.
Ultimately, AI offers significant opportunities, but it also carries notable risks. Companies should be mindful of the concerns of both employees and customers when using AI.
What Rights do Employers and Employees Have?
In general, AI is a tool – not a replacement for human workers and it isn’t likely to become one anytime soon. In fact, recent research suggests that the rate of “hallucinations” (outputs containing incorrect or fabricated information) in large language models such as ChatGPT, is getting progressively worse with newer models. As previously mentioned, generative AI can be helpful for automating certain tasks, but employers should be careful to consider its impacts, and whether having AI will actually speed up a task, or end up in more work for employeees. As a result, it is increasingly important for employers to enact AI policies to control the extent to which its use is permitted in the workplace.
While AI can result in great efficiencies for certain tasks, it is critical that we not give up the very thing that makes our workplaces special and liveable: humanity!
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