US civil society groups demand better conditions for AI workers

Workplace surveillance

In their letter, the organisations mentioned several alarming working conditions, including “invasive workplace surveillance in order to maintain control over workers”.  For example, it details how Amazon is allegedly using surveillance to retaliate against workers and undermine their rights to speak out or take collective action. Similarly, employees at Google and Walmart have alleged that their employer embedded browser extensions and listening devices to quash organising activities and unionising.

The letter’s signatories claim this constant surveillance has enforced a dangerous pace of work, which has brought on a worker injury crisis.

They note, for example, that Amazon uses its package scanners to not only track packages, but also to measure the number of seconds between each scan to ensure an item is moved along every 11 seconds, while FedEx workers have to wear a heavy scanner attached to their forearm which has caused repetitive stress injuries.

According to recent findings from ExpressVPN, 80% of employers use monitoring software, while separate research from Top10VPN found that half of tracked employees say these practices have affected their mental health. “It’s like you’re fighting for your job every day,” said a UPS driver.

The letter added that the normalisation of workplace surveillance creates an unhealthy environment where employers can easily engage in anti-union surveillance, which the General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board has warned against because it may discourage workers from using their legally protected organising rights.

“This is particularly concerning for low-wage workers, gig workers or otherwise typically marginalised – including Black and Latinx – workers, for whom organising for better conditions is more risky,” they wrote.

Algorithmic management

In the AI industry itself, data workers are victims to low wages, wage theft, intense surveillance and retaliation against organising, the letter explained. For example, it noted that some Mechanical Turk (Amazon’s digital labour platform) workers have reported being paid below minimum wage while receiving no health insurance or benefits, and highlighted research that estimates nearly a third of workers’ time is spent on uncompensated work.

According to a June 2023 report from Turkopticon, many are also unpaid without explanation.

Corporations have also used this technology to put workers at risk to be replaced, fissured, deskilled or paid less, the letter claims.

“Digital labor platforms like Uber and Amazon’s Flex use automated management to actualise invisible corporate control of workers, despite asserting that the workers are independent businesses,” it said. “As a result, platform workers are stripped of a host of labor rights and protections, and prone to wage theft, discrimination and on-the-job injury.”

It further highlighted similar situations where employers have used AI to replace workers. For example, earlier this year, the National Eating Disorder Association announced it was shutting down its human-run helpline and replacing workers with a chatbot. That decision came after helpline employees voted to unionise. The chatbot ended up providing dubious and even harmful advice to people with eating disorders seeking help.

The letter also mentioned cases where workers and unions have fought back, stating the Writers Guild of America’s negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, resulting in a deal outlining workers’ rights to credit and compensation, regardless of whether is used in part of their work.

Rapid action necessary

The letter ultimately urged Schumer and Congress to take rapid action in the face of a rapidly developing technology.

“Congress should develop a new generation of economic policies and labor rights to prevent corporations like Amazon from leveraging tech-driven worker exploitation into profit and outcompeting rivals by taking the low road,” they wrote.

“Establishing robust protections related to workplace technology and rebalancing power between workers and employers could reorient the economy and tech innovation toward more equitable and sustainable outcomes.”