Mitigating the risk of AI in the workplace

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform the workplace, organisations are reaping the benefits of increased efficiency, productivity, and innovation. However, alongside these advantages, AI brings potential risks that employers must address to ensure a balanced, lawful, ethical, and secure integration of this evolving technology.

Government reform to AI and surveillance technology measures

In the Government’s ‘Next Steps to Make Work Pay’ paper, published in October 2024, the Government promised a consultation on how to implement measures on surveillance technologies.

Labour has also been involved with the TUC’s AI taskforce, which in April 2024 published its draft Artificial Intelligence (Employment and Regulation) Bill, setting out recommended regulation on the use of AI systems by employers in relation to workers, employees and jobseekers to protect their rights and interests in the workplace.

However, employers should not wait for Government guidance and/or legislation before taking action to manage the legal and regulatory risks associated with AI, particularly as most employment laws were not designed with these technological developments in mind.

Managing the risk of AI in the workplace

• Conduct a needs assessment before implementing an AI tool to evaluate its suitability, taking into account its intended purpose and impact.

• Carry out a risk assessment to identify and mitigate potential areas of concern with each AI tool used. There are various third party resources available to assist employers with certain aspects of risk:
  • Responsible AI in recruitment.
  • AI and data protection risk toolkit.
  • Find out about AI assurance techniques.
  • Good Work Algorithmic Impact Assessment.

• Carry out due diligence when procuring an AI system that will be used in the workplace to help identify and assess related operational and legal risks.

• Consider whether consultation with a trade union, works council or other staff association is legally required or whether such workforce engagement would be advisable in any event.

• Be transparent with staff about the use of AI tools in the workplace. The introduction of AI can create concerns among employees and a lack of proactive communication and planning can lead to resistance and/or decreased morale.

• When using AI as a recruitment tool, provide full information to candidates and employees about profiling, automated decision-making and monitoring practices, ensuring that there is a lawful basis for processing data.

• Lawfully monitor protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 to identify bias and discrimination risk and make reasonable adjustments for candidates and employees with a disability, putting alternative measures in place where a candidate or employee has a protected characteristic which means the AI tool may not function as intended.

• Ensure a human manager has final responsibility for any decision-making, particularly where there is potential for dismissal and ensure that HR professionals and managers are able to understand algorithms and interpret any resulting data to ensure accuracy and be able to explain and justify the basis for any decisions made by AI tools.

Comment

By addressing potential issues like bias, transparency, data privacy, and workforce impact, employers can harness AI’s full potential while maintaining trust and integrity.

Creating a culture of accountability and ethics around AI ensures that this technology supports human capabilities rather than replacing them.

It is important for employers to stay informed about evolving AI regulation by regularly seeking legal expertise on any regulation relevant to their sector.

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