02 March 2024 , 21:07
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The Government aims to use Artificial Intelligence to replace tens of thousands of civil service jobs, a union leader claims today.
It comes as the TUC warns of the risk of a disaster similar to the Post Office’s Horizon scandal if workers do not get a say in how machines are rolled out. Deputy PM Oliver Dowden this week said embracing AI is the only way to slim down the civil service, which must lose 66,000 staff under Tory plans.
But Public and Commercial Services Union general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “The Tories clearly want AI to be the means of cutting tens of thousands of jobs in the Civil Service so they should come clean and admit that in DWP, the justice system, HMRC and other departments that they want software to judge and decide upon citizens; for the machine to be in charge.” She said the PCS, which represents 190,000 civil servants, “recognises AI is an inevitable development” but wants it “to enhance jobs, not degrade them”.
It wants an agreement to govern the introduction and operation of AI and prohibit automated decision-making. TUC senior policy officer Sian Elliot said: “AI should be used to improve the quality of public services, not as a way running things on the cheap. It is crucial workers have a say over how new technology is rolled out or there’s a danger we’ll have repeats of the Horizon scandal and a ‘computer says no’ approach to services.”
And Unison’s Mike Short added: “AI will transform work. But councils must be careful how they use it. Years of underfunding have left many authorities on the brink. But reducing people with technology to cut spending on staff is not the panacea to every problem. By axing frontline jobs, the vital human element is removed.”
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Google found out how wrong it can go with its Gemini AI tool, which generated images of one of America’s Founding Fathers as Black, the Pope as a woman and Nazi-era German soldiers that included a Black man and Asian woman. Boss Sundar Pichai admitted it was “unacceptable”.
Last year, it was reported the Government was using AI and complex algorithms to help decide who gets benefits and who should have their marriage licence approved.
The Cabinet Office said: “We have never viewed AI as a tool to replace jobs. We are clear on the need for human oversight. By removing time-wasting admin and bureaucracy, we can free public servants to deliver.”