AI's Influence on Wages and Work
1. **Declining Earnings in Rideshare Industry**
- Rideshare drivers report significantly lower earnings per ride compared to previous years.
- Companies like Uber and Lyft are using opaque algorithms to determine pay, potentially leading to pay disparities among drivers.
2. **Algorithmic Wage Discrimination**
- Platforms appear to be using AI to determine the lowest amounts drivers will accept, leading to depressed pay.
- This practice involves using data on worker behavior, location, and market conditions to set wages.
3. **Spread to Other Industries**
- The practice is expanding beyond gig work to fields such as healthcare, logistics, and tech.
- AI-powered management software is being adopted in various workplaces, indirectly influencing pay through project allocation and shift scheduling.
4. **Increased Workplace Surveillance**
- Many employers are tracking worker productivity in real-time, creating detailed digital profiles of employees.
- This data collection could affect pay, bonuses, and promotions.
5. **Potential Impacts on Labor Rights**
- AI-driven pay differences could hinder worker organizing efforts by fragmenting the workforce.
- Unions are beginning to address AI use in contracts and investigate its role in employee evaluations.
6. **Concerns and Criticisms**
- Critics argue that this trend could lead to worker desperation and exploitation and further eroding labor rights.
- There are worries about the accuracy and fairness of AI-driven decision-making in wage determination.
7. **Future Implications**
- The article suggests that these practices could fundamentally change the nature of work and compensation across various sectors.
- There's a call for increased scrutiny and regulation of AI's role in wage determination and worker management.
Experts believe that specific legislation is the most effective way to combat algorithmic wage discrimination. While such tactics are currently legal in the U.S., as long as they don't violate minimum wage or anti-discrimination laws, experts like Teachout suggest they could eventually be classified as unfair trade practices.
Although federal and state laws theoretically protect us from workplace discrimination based on factors like race and gender, Teachout's research highlights how AI algorithms can indirectly perpetuate these biases. For instance, an algorithm might identify workers with lower savings who are less likely to quit a low-paying job. This could disproportionately affect Black and Latino workers, who often have lower savings rates compared to other groups.
Valdez, who has experienced this firsthand, warns of the widespread harm that corporations can inflict by prioritizing profits. He emphasizes that as long as most people remain unaware of these practices, the status quo will likely persist, and change is unlikely to come from those perpetuating AI-driven wage discrimination.
This threat extends beyond gig workers to all industries. The ever-shrinking wages in a world of rising prices pose a danger to everyone.