CODE-CWA Member Brings Worker Voice to Senate AI Forum

CODE-CWA member Ed Stackhouse joined AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler in the U.S. Capitol to answer questions by reporters after the AI Insight Forum.

CWAers from across our union are actively engaged in shaping government policy on artificial intelligence (AI) and challenging corporate misuses of AI.

This week, Ed Stackhouse, a Google rater and member of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (AWU-CWA Local 9009) traveled to Washington, D.C., to share his experiences working to train, test, and evaluate Google’s search and AI platforms. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler brought Stackhouse’s insights about the impact of Google’s working conditions on the quality and reliability of AI-generated search results to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s AI Insight Forum, which included senators, tech CEOs, and labor leaders. Watch Stackhouse speak from the event.

While tech titans and corporate executives paint a rosy picture of the future of artificial intelligence in the workplace, CWAers are speaking out as the real experts on the right and wrong ways to use AI tools to get the job done.

We are the workers who are both building AI platforms and being managed by AI algorithms. We are the end users who know the difference between a software program that enhances worker productivity and creativity and one that threatens our privacy, job security, and quality of worklife with zero accountability.

That’s why CWA’s Executive Board has established a Committee on Artificial Intelligence. This group of members from across our union is studying the impact of AI technology in our workplaces and will draft principles and recommendations on how to address the challenges that AI presents through both bargaining strategy and public policy.