Microsoft and AFL-CIO strike deal over AI, labor neutrality

Microsoft has forged a new partnership with the AFL-CIO that outlines how the company may navigate AI technology in relation to how it affects workers.

In its press release, Microsoft announced “the formation of a new partnership to create an open dialogue to discuss how artificial intelligence (AI) must anticipate the needs of workers and include their voices in its development and implementation.”

It also outlined three primary goals for the partnership going forward:

1. AI education for workers and students: Microsoft will provide formal learning opportunities on the latest and prospective developments in AI, providing labor leaders and workers with critical information and insights on this new technology as it evolves in the future.
2. Direct feedback from labor leaders and workers: To ensure that the expertise and perspectives of workers inform the work of Microsoft’s AI developers, the partners have developed a mechanism for labor leaders and workers to share experiential insights, concerns and feedback directly to the people who develop this technology. This collaboration will begin with a focus on unions and workers in selected key sectors.
3. Joint policy and skills development: As Congress debates future AI and workforce legislation in the Committees of the House and Senate and the bipartisan AI Insight Forums, the AFL-CIO and Microsoft will join forces to propose and support policies that will equip workers with the essential skills, knowledge and economic support needed to thrive in an AI-powered economy.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler also released a statement regarding the announcement:

“This partnership reflects a recognition of the critical role workers play in the development, deployment and regulation of AI and related technologies. The labor movement looks forward to partnering with Microsoft to expand workers’ role in the creation of worker-centered design, workforce training and trustworthy AI practices. Microsoft’s neutrality framework and embrace of workers’ expertise signals that this new era of AI can also catalyze a new era of productive labor-management partnerships.”

The AFL-CIO (The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) is made up of 60 unions representing more than 12 million workers. It is the largest federation of unions in the United States.