Could a 'Robot Relations' Department Be Coming to Your Workplace?

What happens when an employee walks into HR to complain about a robot co-worker or an overzealous AI scheduling assistant? One idea gaining traction in HR discussions is "robot relations" - a dedicated function for handling human-AI tensions at work.

Brookings Institution senior fellow Darrell M. West wrote in July that employee concerns will increasingly center on interactions with AI agents, cobots and large language models. He argued that existing employee support systems, rooted in the industrial era, are ill-equipped for AI-era grievances, and that businesses will need to supplement HR with robot relations.

The complaints could be varied: Can workers be forced to use AI against their wishes? Who is at fault when a project goes wrong - the human or the AI? Human-AI tensions already exist, with allegations that HR algorithms are unfair or biased, and in some cases used to select employees for layoffs. A bill recently passed by California's legislature with overwhelming support would ban "robo bosses" for firing or disciplining workers; it awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom's signature.

At an experimental San Francisco store run by AI company Andon Labs, an AI system called Luna was given responsibility for hiring, scheduling and managing workers, and in August made its first recommendation to terminate an employee. Meta faces a July lawsuit in which former employees allege AI-assisted systems were used to rank workers for layoffs, disproportionately affecting those who had taken medical or family leave; Meta has denied the allegations.

A May survey from nonprofit United for Respect found Walmart and Amazon workers increasingly concerned that HR decisions are being automated. Amazon said the survey represents a fraction of its millions-strong workforce. In June, Walmart shareholders rejected a proposal requiring more reporting on workplace automation.

Orestis Papakyriakopoulos, a professor at the Technical University of Munich, said the idea of such a department - or expanding HR's remit in this direction - is worth taking seriously. His team has encountered workplace projects where employees withheld information or disrupted processes out of concern for their job security. Cristina Zaga, assistant professor at the University of Twente, argued that any properly conceived department should aim to give workers a meaningful role in the governance and design of automation - perhaps better called "workers-automation relations."

Source: CNBC