Gregory's ServerHigherpaid tech workers are also organising with their lowerpaid counterparts, not only to advocate for better working conditions but also to stop their organisations from developing harmful AI systems. From Google workers protesting against the company’s involvement in developing computervision technology for drone warfare in partnership with the American government, to the NoTechForApartheid campaign started in partnership with
|
3 comments
Concept artists hired lobbyists and filed classaction lawsuits against companies that generated “AI art” using their work as training data, without consent or compensation. Creatives refused to accept studio terms stipulating that their material could be used to train generativeAI systems that could then put them out of work or devalue their labour. Given widening inequalities around the world, the climate catastrophe pushing more people into the margins, and the growing number of refugees, which is projected to rocket while tech billionaires amass more money than ever, the labour movement is only going to grow in importance during 2024. It has a vital role to play as it becomes one of the key ways in which the development of harmful AI systems can be curbed. |
Google and Amazon employees, tech workers are protesting against the use of their labour in creating harmful technology.
The labour movement’s pushback against the proliferation of harmful AI systems is not limited to tech workers: many industries that are affected by the potential uses of AI systems have joined the fight. AI was a key topic of contention in the historic strikes by writers and actors in Hollywood in 2023.