The federal government took another step Wednesday in trying to put some guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence in businesses like restaurants, with the Department of Labor issuing a comprehensive set of practices management should voluntarily follow in the absence of actual regulations.
Recommendations were also issued for AI suppliers. DOL suggested the vendors specify exactly what their AI technology is intended to do, what a user can expect in terms of benefits, and how well it performed in tests, ideally conducted by a third party.
In addition to sharing that information with prospective clients, DOL said, the suppliers should delineate precisely how a system would change the labor needs of a business, though in terms of how job responsibilities and skill requirements might shift, not how headcounts should drop. A major contention of the guidance is that AI should create jobs for responsible users, not eliminate positions, as many in the restaurant business have identified as a hoped-for benefit.
Indeed, DOL says the “North Star” of the guidance is integrally involving workers and unions in the rollout of the technology. Employees “should be informed of and have genuine input in the design, development, testing, training, use, and oversight of AI systems for use in the workplace,” it states.
Included in the rundown of best practices is a mention of how some labor contracts already provide covered employees with the power to veto their employers’ adoption of AI.
The prime aim of employers looking to adopt AI should be complete transparency, DOL advised. It suggested that companies alert their staffs well in advance of installing the technology. The heads-up should cover how the AI will be used, what effect it will have on the team, and what opportunities for advancement it might create.
The suggestions are more big-picture principles than tactical do’s and don’ts. Nor are they binding mandates enforceable by DOL. But the guidance emphasizes that the recommend “high-road” practices would not pre-empt legislation governing the technology, suggesting formal rules may be coming.
The complete set of recommendations can be found here.
The guidelines are a follow-up to the Biden administration’s release last October of broad principles it contended should govern AI’s rapid evolution. Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed a number of times during her campaign for the presidency to facilitate the responsible adoption of the technology.
They arrive as more restaurants are using AI to do things like take orders, generate marketing copy and predict sales volumes and inventory needs.
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