The UK Government is contemplating regulating the use of AI technology in our workplaces, amongst growing concerns that these new technologies could negatively impact the UK’s job market and employment levels. With the UK being home to one-third of all Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies in Europe, the pros and cons of AI technologies in the workplace are already being heavily weighed up on these shores, with the undeniable benefits it brings to a variety of industries being valued against the potential wider impacts on job security and the wider economy.
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Matija Kolaric, Website Manager for SaasGenius.com, says: “Think of AI as this super-powerful new tool in our shed. It’s exciting and can help us build all sorts of great things. But just like we wouldn’t hand over a powerful tool to someone without teaching them how to use it safely, we can’t just start using AI without putting some rules in place. That’s the whole point of regulation – ensuring we use AI’s immense power safely and responsibly.”
With this in mind, the SaaS pricing and software experts at SaaSGenius.com have weighed up the pros and cons of AI technology becoming prevalent in UK workplaces, to consider whether or not now is the time for AI technology regulation.
What are the pros of AI technology in the UK?
AI technology could help improve the UK’s emergency services.
As well as being implemented in offices across the UK, AI technology is also being utilized by emergency services such as the NHS and the police. AI technology also has the potential to improve the quality of transport networks, as well as provide previously unattainable data to professionals in various fields of science and technology.
Michelle Donelan MP, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has openly expressed her vision for the UK to become an AI-enabled country, with AI being listed as one of the UK’s “top 5 technologies of tomorrow”.
The NHS has already outlined how AI technologies could improve the way it operates. One such way is in its application of medicine in areas such as cancer treatments, eye diseases and a range of other conditions. AI systems could also be used to speed up care professionals’ decision-making, helping more patients receive diagnoses and treatments much faster.
Similarly, AI systems could save the police invaluable amounts of time by automatically capturing any required data, minimising the hours that officers dedicate to filling out paperwork, thus freeing up more officers for more on-the-ground police work.
AI advancements could help to make the UK a leading power in technology
The UK has been very much at the forefront of progressing AI technologies and currently places third in the world for AI research and development.
As AI becomes an increasingly important part of the global way of life, the UK has an opportunity to become a leading power in the technology sector, which could eventually boost the UK’s position in the global economy.
While there is certainly something of a race to become a leading AI superpower, the UK government admits that it is crucial to create the right environment in which to harness the benefits of AI, so that innovators can thrive and the risks can be addressed.
AI could create entirely brand new jobs
A lot of people are quite rightly concerned about AI technology replacing real people in jobs throughout different sectors. However, while AI might reduce the number of certain jobs out there, it is entirely possible that new jobs will be created as a result of these technologies, for example, AI regulators.
While the abilities of AI and the global use of it are accelerating, these technologies are still finding a place in the working world, it is currently hard to estimate the exact number of different job roles that AI will create and how many of them there will be.
What are the cons of AI technology in the UK?
AI technology could limit the number of jobs available in the UK
The main concern that most people have with the rise of AI technology is that if these systems become too efficient, then companies could start to replace a human workforce with AI, which could lead to nationwide unemployment.
The UK Government has been aware of this risk since at least 2020 when a detailed report by PwC for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy was published. The report estimated that 7% of UK jobs could face a high probability of automation by 2025, rising to around 18% by 2030, and as high as 30% by 2040, should AI technologies continue to be rolled out at the expected rate.
AI could diffuse personal accountability in a variety of industries
Another drawback of AI systems becoming more prevalent which is often pointed out is that as AI algorithms begin to replace human thinking, the people responsible for making important decisions across a variety of industries become less accountable for any mistakes that may occur.
This has the potential to create a real headache for HR since a fault within an AI system cannot be held accountable for any mistakes or discrepancies, in the same way, that a human employee can.
This could prove particularly tricky if a person feels they have been discriminated against in some way as a result of AI. There is already evidence that some AI tools have been developed to be deliberately unethical or biased in some way. Without mandated rules on AI, these AI systems could end up infringing on people’s human rights.
AI could pose unknown threats
There have been plenty of sci-fi movies depicting artificial intelligence getting out of control and posing a serious threat to humanity. While a lot of these fantasy tales are certainly far-fetched, it remains true that the limits to what AI can achieve and what it may be used for, are still relatively unknown.
In the wrong hands, or in an uncontrolled environment, AI could develop in such a way that people’s data and privacy are very much at risk.
Is it time to regulate AI in the UK?
The rapid rise of AI technologies in UK workplaces has happened too fast for anybody to make a fully formed decision about its potential limits and total impact. For this reason alone, the calls for stricter regulation of AI are becoming increasingly harder to ignore.
The EU started the conversation on AI regulation, with a Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonized rules on AI intelligence and the AI Act proposal. These proposals aim to address the risks associated with AI, with the intention of guaranteeing that any AI technologies implemented within Europe can be completely trusted by the people that are using them.
Since then there have been plenty of high-profile figures advocating for the regulation of AI, including Tesla and Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, as well as philosophers from prolific universities such as Oxford University.
AI regulation does not have to mean the total restriction of AI technology within UK workplaces, and a variety of industries can still benefit from AI systems that have been approved as safe to use.
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Ultimately regulating AI sooner rather than later will ensure that AI will have a positive rather than negative effect on people’s work lives.