Casey introduces AI bills aimed at protecting workers from potential employer abuses

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., has introduced two pieces of legislation aimed at curbing some of the more sinister potential uses of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

The “No Robot Bosses” Act would add protections for employees and job applicants from automated decision-making software, and require employers to disclose when and how they use such systems.

Casey wrote in a one-pager explaining the legislation that technologies like ChatGPT are already being used – sometimes with no human input — to make decisions about everything from interviewing and hiring prospective job candidates, to promoting, disciplining, and even firing workers from their jobs.

“Today, algorithms and automated decision systems have vast implications for employment decisions, worker rights, and safety in the workplace,” Casey wrote. “Without oversight and safeguards, these ‘robot bosses’ increase the risks of discrimination, unfair disciplinary actions, and dangerous working conditions.”

The legislation would prohibit employers from relying solely on automated systems for employment related decisions, require testing before and during use to scan for issues like discrimination and biases, and mandate human oversight of automated decision systems before using them to assist with employment-related decisions.

The other legislation, titled the Exploitative Workplace Surveillance and Technologies Task Force Act, would do what the name suggests: create a “dynamic interagency task force” led by the Department of Labor and the Office of Science and Technology Policy to study the impact of automated decision-making systems and workplace surveillance.

Casey, along with Sens. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and Cory Booker, D-NJ, said in a statement that research, worker testimonies and news reports all suggest “that employers are increasingly surveilling their workers and making determinations about their employment with algorithms and automated decision systems.” But there’s little understanding of how else employers may be using the data they collect, they added, and how those uses could run afoul of workplace anti-discrimination rules.