The UK’s largest trade union body, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has proposed a bill for the regulation of AI in the workplace.

As AI and automation continues to proliferate across the UK’s workforce, the TUC and other union bodies have raised concerns about how the burgeoning technology will affect the stability of workers across different industries, and how it may transform the workforce.

“AI is rapidly transforming our society and the world of work, yet there are no AI related laws in place in the UK, nor any current plans to legislate soon,” Mary Towers, policy officer, employment rights for TUC, wrote.

The TUC is therefore calling for “urgent action” to curtail the risks of using AI for decision-making in the workplace, such as hiring and firing decisions.

The AI Bill has several key considerations about controlling decision making, ensuring AI systems are used transparently and are explainable, and that workplace risks assessments are made as well.

Similarly to the EU’s AI Act, TUC’s bill classifies certain applications of AI as ‘high-risk’, this time when it concerns decision-making.

High risk here refers to decisions where there are “legal effects or other similarly significant effects.”

At the heart of the bill are provisions intended to keep workers fully consulted, informed, and involved in how AI is used in the workplace, centring on transparency, observability, and explainability. This includes algorithmic transparency to allow unions to better understand how these systems operate.

Also integral to the bill is ensuring workplace AI risk assessments are made every year, and that workers are included in a consultation process on how and where AI is used in their company.

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Employers would also have to make a register of all applications of AI decision-making systems, as well as guaranteeing workers the right to a personalised statement explaining how AI was making high-risk decisions about them.

Union workers would also be able to request data about union members that is being used in relation to AI decision-making, in an attempt to redress the imbalance of power over data at work.

The Bill will also introduce a red line over the use of emotional recognition tech, and against discriminatory algorithms.