Workers First
AI Summit
Presented by:
Workers are at the forefront of this era of artificial intelligence (AI). Their voices are essential in every AI policy conversation, ending the history of sidelining their expertise.
On March 26, we will come together to discuss foundational principles that drive our vision for worker- and equity-centered AI innovation that leads to opportunity for everyone, rather than just enriching the world’s wealthiest technology companies and their investors.
Our Principles
Workers First Initiative on Artificial Intelligence
AI should benefit everyone, not just tech billionaires and corporate shareholders. The AFL-CIO’s first-of-its-kind AI labor agenda provides a blueprint for implementing AI in ways that empower workers, strengthen the economy and protect public services. These principles ensure technology serves the people who use it.
Featured Sessions
What to expect
Summit attendees will include labor leaders and staff experts, union members, policy leaders, civil society, philanthropy partners and other allies, coming together to advocate for a pro-worker and equity-based AI policy agenda.
President Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO
What are we confronting?
Join us for a panel discussion with Claude Cummings Jr. (CWA), Jose Garcia (Ford Foundation), former Amazon worker Isaiah Thomas (RWDSU-UFCW) and Jason Gordon (WGAE) as they discuss the problems and challenges in an AI era without meaningful guardrails in place.
A Vision for Pro-Worker AI Innovation with AFL-CIO Principles
After opening remarks by AFL-CIO Tech Institute Executive Director Lauren McFerran, join Randi Weingarten (AFT), Mike Kubzansky (Omidyar Network), Amy Chin-Lai (NPEU, IFPTE) and Gerry Petrella (Microsoft) as they discuss policies needed to influence and shape the future of AI governance and emphasize the need for strong, enforceable guardrails, to ensure workers are prepared and supported, to stop harmful uses of AI and to make sure the technology benefits everyone.
High Stakes and Deepfakes: Strategic Solutions in the A.I. Era
A session led by SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who will delve into the very real threats from deepfakes in an unregulated environment.
Ask An Expert: AI Questions
Join expert panelists Jodi Forlizzi (Carnegie Mellon University, AFL-CIO Tech Institute Fellow), Alexander Hertel-Fernandez (Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University), Megan Rivera (Washington Center for Equitable Growth and Siegel Family Endowment Fellow) and Darrick Hamilton (AFL-CIO Chief Economist) as they take questions from the audience about AI and its impact on workers and society.
Max Tegmark, MIT, Future of Life
What Could Go Wrong?
Join Heidi Shierholz (EPI), Janet Haven (Data & Society), Charlotte Burrows (former EEOC) and Bob Foose (MLSPA) as they field questions based on real workers’ problems. Speakers will unpack the potential harms and what specific policy interventions, drawing from the AFL-CIO Principles, will help alleviate those issues.
Report from the Field: States on the Front Lines for Pro-Worker AI Policies
After opening remarks by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Fred Redmond, join AFL-CIO state federation leaders Lorena Gonzalez (California), Ed Hawthorne (Connecticut), Chrissy Lynch (Massachusetts), Charlie Wowkanech (New Jersey) and Cherika Carter (Washington) as they highlight state labor mobilizations and key labor-championed AI bills in states.
Turning Vision into Action
Join a panel conversation moderated by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler with Maya Wiley (LCCHR), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Greg Regan (TTD) and Christy Hoffman (UNI Global Union) on how the labor movement, civil society, elected officials, global partners and others can work together to achieve a vision for a better technological future for workers and the broader public—one grounded in fairness, equity, dignity of work and AI that benefits everyone, not just the wealthiest technology companies in the world.
Presented by
The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) works tirelessly to improve the lives of working people.
We are the democratic, voluntary federation of 65 national and international labor unions and represent nearly 15 million working people.
Learn more about the AFL-CIO.
The AFL-CIO Tech Institute works at the intersection of technology and labor, centering workers’ knowledge, expertise and interests in the innovation economy and in public services to ensure that technological change creates widespread prosperity.
Learn more about the AFL-CIO Tech Institute.News and Resources
Read AI principles from labor unions, and catch up on the latest news and advocacy efforts to protect workers.