In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been lauded for its potential to boost productivity and streamline operations. However, my research reveals that in China, AI is predominantly empowering employers rather than employees, leading to greater workplace inequities.
AI’s integration into the workplace has allowed employers to monitor employee activities with unprecedented precision. In Beijing, AI systems are being used to justify demotions and layoffs by generating evidence of purported worker misconduct. These systems can flag real-time behaviors such as browsing non-work-related websites or looking at job recruitment sites. Social media monitoring further allows employers to assess worker morale.
Upon dismissal, employees often lose access to work systems, making it difficult to contest AI-based accusations. This dynamic shifts power significantly in favor of employers, who can use AI to justify actions without transparency or accountability.
AI also facilitates more efficient labor management. For example, in China, AI can alert managers when a meeting is canceled, enabling them to reassign tasks to optimize productivity. While this increases efficiency, it also heightens labor extraction, making workers more vulnerable.
Although AI can empower employees by enabling tasks like app design without coding knowledge, it also reduces the demand for skilled workers, increasing competition and diminishing workers’ bargaining power. This is especially evident in the gig economy. A 2017 University of Oxford study found that Uber’s entry into new U.S. markets led to a significant increase in drivers but a 10% decrease in hourly earnings. Similar trends are observed in China, where ride-sharing app drivers report declining pay rates.
AI’s ability to break down complex tasks into simple data points further undermines workers’ negotiating power, as they become responsible for smaller segments of production. The rise of flexible, AI-enabled work has led to geographically dispersed workforces with high turnover, making collective bargaining more difficult.
While policymakers may focus on training programs to help workers adapt to AI, these measures alone are insufficient. Without addressing the growing power imbalances, workers will continue to suffer. Regulatory interventions are crucial to limit employers’ control over AI systems and the data they collect.
In China, personal data laws have been strengthened, but mainly to protect consumers and national security, not workers. Employers still require employees to consent to extensive data collection, often using this data in ethically questionable ways. Workers are left with little recourse, unable to challenge these practices due to a lack of transparency.
Policies must empower workers by integrating robust protections into AI and data regulations. Labor laws should be updated to address AI-enabled abuses. Workers should have rights to access their personal workplace data even after employment ends, and clear explanations of how their data is used by AI systems should be mandated.
Clear boundaries on the types of data that can be collected and processed by AI systems are essential. Allowing the market to dictate the pace of AI adoption in workplaces without considering the social and economic impacts will likely exacerbate existing inequalities. A more measured approach would give workers time to adapt to these changes more smoothly.
While AI boosts productivity, it also reshapes power dynamics, often to the detriment of workers. The rapid and unchecked adoption of AI technologies is hard to justify if the primary beneficiaries are employers. AI should enhance human productivity in a way that benefits all stakeholders, not just those in positions of power. We must remain vigilant about the potential for AI to entrench existing inequities, and ensure that human needs and rights remain at the forefront of technological advancements.