Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. Labor unions urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, California lawmakers to rein in artificial intelligence Lorena Gonzalez, with the California Labor Federation, supports legislation to protect workers from AI. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . Labor unions urge Gov. Gavin Newsom to protect workers from AI-driven job losses and workplace surveillance.

Rishi Sunak will gather world leaders in London this autumn for a summit on safety in artificial intelligence, after expressing concern about the "existential risks" of the rapidly evolving technology. Apparently, even our wannabe tech bro prime minister – currently holidaying in California – is willing to acknowledge the potential need for state intervention to prevent AI going rogue. But away from the level of jet-setting diplomacy, his government has been notably less keen on scrutinising the dramatic transformation already being wrought in many people's working lives by digital technologies. A new report on "connected tech" published by the culture, media and sport select committee underlined the immense potential of the so-called "fourth Industrial Revolution" for a wide range of sectors. But it also pointed to the risks for individual workers, where aspects of their job are automated out of existence, or they find themselves so closely monitored that they lose any sense of autonomy.

Stronger legislation than the European Commission envisages is needed to regulate AI and protect workers. Artificial intelligence (AI) is of strategic importance for the European Union: the European Commission frequently affirms that'artificial intelligence with a purpose can make Europe a world leader'. Recently, the commissioner for the digital age, Margrethe Vestager, again insisted on AI's'huge potential' but admitted there was'a certain reluctance', a hesitation on the part of the public: 'Can we trust the authorities that put it in place?' One had to be able to trust in technology, she said, 'because this is the only way to open markets for AI to be used'. Trust is indeed central to the acceptance of AI by European citizens.

BRUSSELS – The European Commission's strategy for artificial intelligence focuses on the need to establish "trust" and "excellence." Recently proposed AI regulation, the Commission argues, will create trust in this new technology by addressing its risks, while excellence will follow from EU member states investing and innovating. With these two factors accounted for, Europe's AI uptake supposedly will accelerate. Unfortunately, protecting EU citizens' fundamental rights, which should be the AI regulation's core objective, appears to be a secondary consideration; and protections for workers' rights don't seem to have been considered at all. AI is a flagship component of Europe's digital agenda, and the Commission's legislative package is fundamental to the proposed single market for data.

Post #MeToo, employers have become increasingly focused on tackling harassment. In fact, it was recently reported that some companies are implementing monitoring software that uses AI to detect online harassment at work. The technology is said to use algorithms that recognise harassing or bullying language within internal worker emails and online chats, which are then flagged to HR for investigation. But is this really the correct tool to combat workplace harassment? And are there better ways for employers to protect workers?

Amazon is increasingly relying on robots for some menial tasks in its warehouses, from transporting goods across short distances to stocking shelves. Now, the internet giant has devised a system to protect employees from getting run over by any roving robots. Employees are being fitted with'robotic tech vests' that notify the machines of their whereabouts so that any potential accidents are avoided, according to TechCrunch. Employees are being fitted with'robotic tech vests' that notify robots of their whereabouts. They're designed by Amazon Robotics and worn like a pair of suspenders attached to a belt Over the course of the past year, workers in more than 25 fulfillment centers have been able to use the vests.

We already knew that working at one of Amazon's warehouses could be hazardous. Amazon Robotics' latest product could protect workers -- but its existence is a strange vision of human-robot relations. TechCrunch reports that the online retail giant's in-house design firm had to come up with a solution -- in the form of a vest -- to protect workers from warehouse robots. The vest sends signals to nearby robots telling them to slow down in order to avoid a collision. "In the past, associates would mark out the grid of cells where they would be working in order to enable the robotic traffic planner to smartly route around that region," Amazon Robotics VP Brad Porter told TechCrunch.

We already knew that working at one of Amazon's warehouses could be hazardous. Amazon Robotics' latest product could protect workers -- but its existence is a strange vision of human-robot relations. TechCrunch reports that the online retail giant's in-house design firm had to come up with a solution -- in the form of a vest -- to protect workers from warehouse robots. The vest sends signals to nearby robots telling them to slow down in order to avoid a collision. "In the past, associates would mark out the grid of cells where they would be working in order to enable the robotic traffic planner to smartly route around that region," Amazon Robotics VP Brad Porter told TechCrunch.

In 2015, a man named Nigel Richards won the title of French- language Scrabble World Champion. This was especially noteworthy because Richards does not speak French. What the New Zealander had done was memorize each of the 386,000 words in the entire French Scrabble dictionary, in the space of just nine weeks. Richards' impressive feat is a useful metaphor for how artificial intelligence works--real AI, not the paranoid fantasies that some self- appointed "futurists" like to warn us about. Just as Richards committed vast troves of words to memory in order to master the domain of the Scrabble board, state-of-the-art AI--or deep learning--takes in massive amounts of data from a single domain and automatically learns from the data to make specific decisions within that domain. Deep learning can automatically optimize human-given goals--called "objective functions"--with unlimited memory and superhuman accuracy.

In 2015, a man named Nigel Richards won the title of French- language Scrabble World Champion. This was especially noteworthy because Richards does not speak French. What the New Zealander had done was memorize each of the 386,000 words in the entire French Scrabble dictionary, in the space of just nine weeks. Richards' impressive feat is a useful metaphor for how artificial intelligence works--real AI, not the paranoid fantasies that some self- appointed "futurists" like to warn us about. Just as Richards committed vast troves of words to memory in order to master the domain of the Scrabble board, state-of-the-art AI--or deep learning--takes in massive amounts of data from a single domain and automatically learns from the data to make specific decisions within that domain.