Who's the boss?
“Businesses in Rhode Island are already using AI and
electronic monitoring tools to surveil and discipline workers in a way no human
supervisor could. If you’re making these consequential decisions overs workers’
lives, there needs to be disclosure, meaningful human oversight and an
opportunity to make corrections, because we have seen real examples where
workers are disciplined because of an algorithm error,” said Senator Gu
(D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown), who chairs the Senate Committee
on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies.
The bill (2026-S 2499, 2026-H 7767) would create a regulatory framework to ensure
fair and transparent use of AI tools that affect workers, including disclosure
to employees about what electronic monitoring is happening and how it might be
used to measure worker performance; meaningful human oversight on algorithmic
decisions like employee hiring, discipline, pay and termination; requiring
companies to use the least invasive means of electronic monitoring possible;
and prohibiting electronic monitoring in break rooms, bathrooms and during off-duty
hours.
“This bill ensures the innovation does not come at expense of worker rights, dignity, privacy or fairness,” said Representative Noret (D-Dist. 25, Coventry, West Warwick). “AI is increasingly being used to determine hiring, discipline and working conditions. There is a need for real guardrails, so workers don’t get left behind. Workers should not be managed or disciplined by algorithms and this bill will ensure that people remain responsible for the decisions that impact workers’ livelihoods. Without rules, our workers are vulnerable.”
AI is playing an increasing role in who companies hire,
promote and fire. A study from last year found that 65% of managers were using AI tools to make work-related
decisions, despite only one-third of them having formal training on how to
use the tools, raising concerns about whether those using the technology
understand it and are using it fairly. In addition, inherent bias in the training data used by the AI models could
lead to discriminatory and unjust outcomes when it comes to hirings, firing and
promotions.
In response to these developments, several states, including
Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, California, Illinois and Washington have passed or are considering similar legislation.
“We are just at the beginning of the Artificial Intelligence
revolution,” said Patrick Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO.
“Rhode Island has a chance to be a national leader by creating some
common-sense guardrails so workers do not get exploited by this new technology.
Thank you to Senator Gu and Representative Noret for their leadership on this
critical legislation.”
