dailynewsnblog
Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Telecommunications workers are calling for government restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence in the sector, suggesting the technology is being used to monitor workers and disguise the accents of overseas call centre workers.
The Canadian Telecommunications Workers Alliance detailed its AI concerns on April 30 in front of the House of Commons’ standing committee on industry and technology, in Ottawa.
The alliance includes, among others, three major unions in the sector: Unifor, the United Steelworkers union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees. It represents 32,000 workers in Canada’s telecommunications industry, including Bell, Rogers and Telus.
In his opening remarks, Roch Leblanc, Unifor telecommunications sector director, said he was “aware that at least one company was using AI to mask accents of offshore agents.”
He said that could “mislead Canadians” into believing they were speaking with Canada-based employees, while being unaware that the jobs had been offshored.
He said customers should be informed when AI is being used.
Amazon announced it’s cutting 14,000 corporate jobs while touting the benefits of artificial intelligence as the most transformative technology since the internet. The retail giant is the latest company to shed positions while investing big in AI.
20,000 jobs already lost
Leblanc said roughly 20,000 jobs in the telecommunications sector had been lost over the past 10 to 15 years due to automation and offshoring, adding that the alliance feared artificial intelligence would accelerate that trend.
He said AI use was particularly advanced in telecommunications and was being used to monitor workers in ways such as tracking technicians’ movements and measuring the time spent on tasks.
He also said AI could analyze call centre conversations word-by-word to reroute calls or identify patterns linked to sales and subscriptions.
Leblanc urged governments to restrict AI-based monitoring, saying it increased psychological stress and intensified workloads.
As investors pour billions into artificial intelligence, warnings of a looming AI bubble are intensifying. Andrew Chang breaks down what’s fuelling those fears. Plus, how one reporter’s question struck at the core of U.S.-Saudi relations.
Nathalie Blais, a research advisor with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the technology could be “very invasive” and should be used “for the common good,” rather than in ways that might mislead people or eliminate jobs.
She said the alliance wants a permanent federal working group on artificial intelligence that brings together government, industry and civil society to collaborate on how the technology is implemented.
The alliance also called for stronger protections for workers’ jobs, their rights and the security of Canadians’ information.
Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Monday that the federal government’s promised new national AI strategy will consider impacts on the labour market.
