*ETUI-Aída Ponce Del Castillo 68 results

"While AI has been the subject of intense discussion and research in the recent past, the recent breakthroughs in generative AI mark the beginning of a new era and are raising existential questions for humanity. Decades of dedicated R&D into AI have culminated in the launch of powerful generative pre-trained transformers such as ChatGPT, Claude, DALL-E, Midjourney or Stable Diffusion. These have been made widely and freely available to anyone with an internet connection, outside of any specific regulatory framework. Unsurprisingly, their adoption has been almost instantaneous..."

"De tout temps, les syndicats ont su réagir rapidement aux révolutions
industrielles et aux changements technologiques, un constat récemment confirmé par leurs réponses immédiates à l'essor fulgurant de l'IA. Les syndicats oeuvrent pour relever le défi de l'IA à tous les niveaux : en influençant la législation, en négociant des conventions collectives et en renforçant leurs compétences et leurs connaissances en interne. Ils ont d'ores et déjà remporté de véritables victoires. À présent, le moment est venu de concevoir une stratégie à long terme."

"Key findings
• General Purpose Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) models are predictive tools that produce outputs on the basis of probability distribution. Contrary to the dominant narrative they are not ‘autonomous' nor do they have real ‘agency'. The central role played by humans at all levels of their development, training, implementation and use should not be underestimated.
• The governance framework of GPAI models is still ‘under construction'. The European Union's (EU) 2024 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act provides a general framework, but more governance measures are planned: harmonised standards to be laid down by the European standards organisations, implementing and delegated acts adopted by the European Commission, and the evaluation of systemic risks and the drawing up of a GPAI Code of Practice by the European Artificial Intelligence Office. This will provide an extra layer of governance that will change the nature of legal obligations, as will rulings by courts and supervisory authorities.
• The electricity consumption, water usage and carbon footprint of GPAI models need to be addressed if the sector is to evolve towards more environmental sustainability. Legally obliging providers to inform users about the environmental impact of individual requests, as a way to help people and companies make better informed decisions, would be a crucial first step. Beyond that, other initiatives are needed to ensure that the entire generative AI ecosystem becomes more sustainable and socially responsible. The governance interventions referred to above can contribute to this."

"The world of work is experiencing multiple transformations driven by automation and digitali zation, environmental changes, (de)globalization, and demographic shifts, among other factors. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening geopolitical tensions, environmental disasters and armed conflicts have further exacerbated these realities to the extent that today we are liv ing in a poly- or perma-crisis. These multiple pressures and crises impact the world of work and oblige trade unions to reflect and act upon uncertainty and change. Increasingly, trade unions worldwide do this, while exploring different tools and methods to think and act upon their fu ture readiness. One method that can be particularly useful is strategic foresight. The paper is the first of its kind, documenting trade union experience worldwide on doing foresight. The re search was done through literature review, desk research and direct participation in foresight workshops. Foresight training courses and workshops were organized in various regions in the world (i.e. Europe, the Arab States, Africa, Asia and the Pacific) in the period 2019-2023. The ob jective of this paper is to provide concrete examples and lessons learned for trade unions that are willing to experiment with strategic thinking and foresight. The paper builds further on the foresight literature by paying particular attention to the context of trade unionism, and trade union realities in different regions."