Comment by Paul Nowak

Great technological transitions only result in meaningful social progress when they are shaped actively and decisively. The Industrial Revolution – often casually invoked to describe the possibilities of AI – saw fifty years of wage stagnation while profits soared. It took the difficult birth of the labour movement to tip technological gains towards workers’ interests and broader social wellbeing. To deliver on the promise of technology to enhance lives, inside and out of the workplace, AI must be designed, governed and negotiated by and for workers. Our guiding principle is simple: change must be done with working people, not to them.