Employers Beware: AI Tools May Lead To Labor Force Friction And Strikes

According to recent studies, 83% of large employers surveyed rely in some form on artificial intelligence (AI) in employment decision-making, and 86% of employers that use AI admit that it is becoming a mainstream technology at their company. (See Chicago Tribune's "Do Robots Care About Your Civil Rights?" and Harvard Business Review's "AI Adoption Skyrocketed Over the Last 18 Months.") The potential uses and benefits of AI are powerful, but the risks are, in some regards, less obvious.

To date, literature tends to focus on potential discrimination and bias associated with the use of AI in employment decision-making. (See The Promise and The Peril: Artificial Intelligence and Employment Discrimination by Keith E. Sonderling, et al., 77 U. MIA L. REV. 1 (2022).) However, a new area of risk is emerging for employers - potential alienation of the labor force with the use of "generative AI" as a replacement for traditional notions of labor.