There is so much going on every day in the AI world that our discussions here are getting bigger each week. There is so much to approach and assess, but we think a newsletter is not a place for long texts ending up in tl;dr.

So starting today, we'll publish the longer version of the discussion on Medium for those who want to go a little deeper, and here you will get a short version on the week's topic.

From riots to robots

In the spirit of International Workers Day, celebrated on May 1st, we'll focus this week's discussion on how AI is impacting jobs and workers’ lives and how we can ensure our rights as the human labor force are guaranteed.

The origins of International Workers' Day date back to the late 19th-century labor movement. It advocated for better working conditions, shorter working hours, and higher wages. In 1886, workers in the United States held a nationwide strike to demand an eight-hour workday. Following the riots, May 1st was declared International Workers' Day by the International Socialist Congress in Paris in 1889, in commemoration of the struggle of workers for their rights and in honor of those who lost their lives fighting for better working conditions.

Today, the use of new technologies in the workplace has the potential to increase efficiency and productivity, but it has also raised concerns about its impact on workers' rights. AI could be used to monitor workers and replace them with automation, which could lead to job displacement and erosion of job security. Ensuring that it is used in a way that benefits workers and protects their rights involves including workers in the design and implementation of AI systems, providing training and support for workers whose jobs are affected by it, and ensuring that these systems are transparent and accountable.

AI is having an impact on the job market by automating tasks that were previously done by humans, such as data entry, customer service, and creative work. It is also affecting the way we think about work and skills. Workers need to acquire new skills, such as data analysis, machine learning, and human-computer interaction, in order to work effectively with this kind of technology.

Some companies have faced criticism for their use of AI in ways that harm workers, such as using it to monitor workers' productivity or assess their job performance. The key to ensuring that AI benefits workers is to approach its development and deployment with a focus on transparency, accountability, and human-centered, multicultural, diverse, and gender-based design. By doing so, we can help to ensure that the benefits of technology are shared and that workers are empowered to better participate in the economy.

Finally, we can’t forget: International Workers’ Day is a call to action for workers to organize, resist, and demand better conditions and greater control over their -our- own lives and work. It is a reminder that the struggle for workers’ rights and social justice is ongoing and that workers must remain vigilant and committed to fighting for a more equitable and just society, especially now.

Worth watching 📺

Also, this past Monday, Geoffrey Hinton, an artificial intelligence pioneer (aka the “Godfather of AI”), quit his job at Google and joined the growing chorus of critics who are concerned that AI could cause serious harm.

He worries that generative AI, the technology that powers popular chatbots like ChatGPT, could be a tool for misinformation, a risk to jobs, and, eventually, a risk to humanity. Hinton's immediate concern is that the internet will be flooded with false photos, videos, and text, and the average person will "not be able to know what is true anymore." He is also worried that AI technologies will upend the job market and that they could be used for bad things by bad actors.

Watch below a super interesting interview with him on CBS Saturday Morning in March:

tech4rights 🤖

Each week, we bring good practice examples of how technology is being used to promote human rights work around the world.

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is a non-profit organization that partners with a global network of companies, universities, and civil society groups to promote fair pay and protect the health, safety, and well-being of workers in global supply chains.

With PwC, they have developed the Fair Compensation Tool, an AI-powered tool that helps companies ensure they pay their workers fairly. It uses machine learning to analyze various data sources, like payroll records, wage surveys, and regulations.

The tool provides a report that points out areas where companies may be falling short of fair compensation practices. For example, it can detect if workers are paid below minimum wage or if there are pay disparities between genders.

Major brands like Nike and Adidas are using the tool to keep a check on their supply chains. The tool is claimed to be scalable and efficient, providing a solution to complex worker compensation and human rights issues.

AI toolbox 🛠️

Here we make recommendations about AI tools that can help to improve your productivity in everyday office work.

Canva is a graphic design platform with a user-friendly interface that offers customizable templates, graphics, and fonts to help users create professional-looking designs quickly and easily. It uses AI to suggest design elements based on the user's input, such as color schemes, font choices, and layouts. It also offers a mobile app for designing on-the-go.

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See you next week!