Algorithms assault workers’ dignity, hear MPs as they call for legislation

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MPs and peers are calling for new laws to curb the use of algorithms to monitor workers and set performance targets, warning that employees’ mental health is being damaged by the use of such technology.
The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on the future of work, chaired by David Davis MP, stated that there had been a “marked increase in the use of AI technologies in the workplace”. It said that use of algorithmic surveillance, management and monitoring technologies … had significantly increased during the pandemic.
The MPs’ report, the New Frontier: Artificial Intelligence at Work, found that the use of artificial intelligence was behind “significant negative impacts on the conditions and quality of work across the country”.
Giving evidence to the committee Dr David Leslie of the Alan Turing Institute said: “The dignity of workers is under assault in our emerging algorithmically driven environment”.
The report argued that AI had the potential improve the quality of work and to provide more employment opportunities, if these were the clear objectives behind its use. Prior to the Covid pandemic, it stated, the technology’s main impact was thought to be the substitution of human labour by machine, “but the rise of remote working has increased public concern about the impact of remote monitoring and management”.
In particular, “pervasive monitoring and target setting technologies” were clearly causing “negative impacts on mental and physical wellbeing as workers experience the extreme pressure of constant, real-time micro-management and automated assessment.”