(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – National AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler has released the following statement on Artificial Intelligence (AI):

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a hot topic in the news recently.

Here’s what I hear from Workers about AI - and what I see as the best path forward.

First, we need to broaden the conversation about what “AI safety” means.

Yes, it means thinking about the societal danger these technologies pose long-term if they go unchecked.

But for Workers: The threat is a lot more real, day to day, right in front of us.

AI surveilling us at work.

Automation taking our jobs.

The existential threat Workers feel is about what an AI future means to our jobs, paychecks, privacy and safety.

Our livelihoods.

The very things that we rely on to keep our households running every single day.

By talking about how we can empower Workers - strengthening Union Rights, passing legislation to protect children’s exposure to these platforms, forming partnerships with companies to upskill Workers - we’re protecting ourselves from the most existential threats that AI poses.

We need clear, principled leadership we can trust that doesn't have ulterior motives in regulating this sector.

That extends to politicians, too.

We cannot and will not count on those directly taking PAC money from Big Tech companies to pass laws regulating those same companies.

It shouldn’t require doomsday warnings to wake up to the very real threats that AI inflicts on us every day.

Unions have been on the front lines of this fight for years because it’s Workers who pay the price if we take the wrong path.

This is our future.

Our message to politicians at every level: Center Working People in everything you do.

That’s the ONLY way to get this right.