Punching In: AI Already at the DOL Despite No Federal Guardrails

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.

AI Spread in Federal Agencies|Hot Strike Summer Heads into Fall

Rebecca Rainey: The US Department of Labor is using artificial intelligence technology to assist its work in 18 different areas, ranging from audio transcription and handwritten document processing and website chatbots to virtual reality headsets that assist in workplace safety inspections.

Lattrice Goldsby, branch chief for Emerging Technology at the DOL, said the agency is “putting AI technology into our workflow to improve employee safety and create greater efficiencies.” For example, the technology has saved hundreds of work hours in Black Lung benefit processing, she said.

While agencies like the DOL are already forging ahead with incorporating AI into their work, lawmakers want the Biden administration to issue guidance clarifying what guardrails the federal government should have in place when using such tools.

In December 2020, Congress passed a law requiring the Office of Management and Budget to draft such guidelines on how federal agencies should safely deploy AI technology.

In particular, the AI in Government Act—which was wrapped into the 2021 appropriations bill—gave the OMB 270 days to issue recommendations for federal agencies on how to balance promoting “the innovative application of AI technologies” while also protecting civil rights, economic security and “mitigating any bias or discrimination caused by AI use.”

But that deadline has passed, and no recommendations have been issued. When pressed on the status of the Congressionally-mandated guidance during a hearing earlier this month on AI in the federal government, Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said the OMB “is working in a very focused manner on what they clearly understand is an important priority.”

For the DOL’s part, Goldsby said in a statement to PI that the agency “is making sure to implement artificial intelligence in a responsible and ethical manner,” and is collaborating with Stanford University to build a “trustworthy” AI practice guide.

But there could be legal ramifications ahead. One legal observer warned that if not monitored carefully, reliance on AI technology within the federal government could have serious consequences for an agency’s work, risking violations of the Administrative Procedure Act or other legal challenges.

Agencies could easily run into legal trouble if they were to defer to an algorithm in its entirety, or if an “improperly trained” algorithm were to introduce bias into an agency’s behavior, said Aram A. Gavoor, an associate dean and law professor at The George Washington University Law School who has researched the risks AI poses to the regulatory process.

An agency could have “significant” APA problems in court if they don’t have an administrative record that provides “explainable, traceable bases” that back up the agency’s ultimate decision, Gavoor told PI.

If algorithms aren’t “traceable, if they’re not explainable, and if they do anything more than perhaps assist a human user in rendering the final agency action,” he added, “they can run into some serious problems.”

Kaiser Permanente nurses and health-care professionals hold placards on a picket line outside of Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas, Ore. Workers could go on strike when their contract expires Sept. 30.

Photographer: Elayna Yussen/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ian Kullgren: The UAW strike might be the biggest labor story in America right now, but it’s not the only one. Labor unrest is still rising, particularly in the West.

In Las Vegas, 53,000 casino and hotel service workers with Culinary 226 will vote Tuesday on whether to give union leaders permission to strike—an increasingly likely prospect given that 40,000 of those workers already axed their contract extensions this month. Culinary 226 Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge told PI over the phone Friday that daily negotiations continue but are going “extremely poorly.”

A work stoppage could shut down many of Sin City’s famous establishments, including the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Mirage, and Caesar’s Palace.

At the same time, more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers—mostly in California, Oregon, and other western states, but also several thousand in the Mid-Atlantic— said Friday they would engage in a two-day strike starting Oct. 4 if no deal is reached. They accuse management of not bargaining in good faith over a staffing crisis that’s been plaguing the health care industry since the pandemic.

The company, for its part, says it’s fared better than the industry as a whole.

And let’s not forget about the Hollywood writers and actors, who made Los Angeles the epicenter of labor unrest this summer. Yes, they’re still on strike. Some have been on the picket line for nearly five months.

SAG-AFTRA and WGA-West held bargaining sessions with the studios last week, seen as a sign of détente between the two. But as of Friday, no agreement had been announced.

The workers’ complaints are shared across the various sectors. Workers say pay hasn’t kept up with cost of living, despite soaring corporate profits. They also note safety measures implemented during the pandemic have turned into cost-cutting efforts—like reducing staffing for housekeeping in hotels, for instance. And AI and other technology could replace workers.

Autumn may have started Saturday, but it’s clear that “hot strike summer” isn’t going away.

We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers, please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.