San Jose workers want safeguards from AI

San Jose has been an early adopter of generative artificial intelligence tools. Now the city’s largest public sector union is demanding it also move quickly to embrace safeguards for workers.

Amid ongoing contract renewal negotiations with the city, AFSCME Local 101 has introduced a package of proposals intended to give workers a greater say in how the technology is deployed.

San Jose leaders have enthusiastically embraced AI tools, arguing they help the city accomplish more despite longstanding staffing shortfalls. But workers have expressed growing alarm over potential displacement risks, as well as the possibility of haphazard rollouts of new automated systems that could disrupt government operations.

“There are many areas where we think that technology being pushed from the top down without input from people doing the work is where some critical mistakes are likely to happen,” John Tucker, a senior representative for the union of 3,400 city employees, told San José Spotlight. “We really just want to set up some basic guardrails about new technology that actually improves public services and that’s not creating new risks for workers in the community.”

The package, introduced last week, includes a requirement that the city must not use AI to replace workers. Other proposals would limit the use of the technology in hiring processes and for monitoring worker performance.

The union is also asking the city to establish a joint oversight committee, with representatives from the union and the city, to review new technical systems before they are deployed in city operations.

With AFSCME Local 101’s current contract set to expire at the end of June, the union advanced the AI demands as part of broader contract talks, which also include discussions over wages, benefits and working conditions.

City officials are presently reviewing the union’s proposals, according to Demetria Machado, chief of staff in the City Manager’s Office.

“The city of San Jose understands concerns from staff, and we are taking a thoughtful and responsible approach to artificial intelligence,” Machado told San José Spotlight.

In 2023, not long after the launch of ChatGPT 3, San Jose launched the GovAI Coalition, an organization that has drawn together hundreds of municipal leaders to create standards for the responsible use of AI in local government.

The city has also experimented with AI tools to aid in an array of city functions, such as optimizing public transit, translating public meetings and reviewing official documents. More recently, the city has launched a search for a generative AI platform capable of helping workers speed up routine tasks.

Machado said San Jose workers are not required to use AI. Instead, the city is offering its employees AI training courses, including workshops on how to navigate the technology’s cybersecurity risks.

“As a large city with limited staff, AI helps us improve efficiency and maintain service levels,” Machado said. “When used responsibly, it allows the city to deliver more efficient and accessible services, including improved language access for our diverse community.”

Of particular concern for Tucker — and other labor advocates monitoring the use of AI in government — is the potential deployment of the technology in call centers. They warn that while chatbots may seem like a good way to speed up call center operations, in practice, the artificial operators often make critical mistakes, leading to customer service mishaps that end up creating more work for human employees.

Tucker acknowledges the momentum behind AI adoption is unlikely to abate anytime soon.

“To some extent, the train has already left the station,” Tucker said. “But it seems like San Jose, being the capital of Silicon Valley, this is the place to have this fight and to be able to have input.”

San Jose would not be the first government to adopt such safeguards for public workers. Last March, Pennsylvania agreed to establish a worker oversight board, including state employees, to review the use of generative AI tools in state operations.

Closer to home, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors this week ordered a comprehensive study on the use of AI across its various departments, after workers raised similar concerns about displacement risks.

Still, if San Jose were to agree to the union’s demand, it would place the city at the forefront of local governments when it comes to worker safeguards for the burgeoning technology.

“We’re really quite in early days of that right now,” Lisa Kresge, a senior researcher at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, told San José Spotlight. “But having the union and workers at the table to even have this discussion is absolutely critical, if there’s a chance that we can ensure that the technology is benefiting society as a whole.”

Contact Keith Menconi at [email protected] or @KeithMenconi on X.