Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) and automated tools are likely to replicate and escalate discrimination and bias in society, including in the workplace. This article examines how the UK legal framework is responding to the workplace discrimination risks posed by new technologies, with a particular focus on large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Drawing on studies of AI at work, and targeted questioning of ChatGPT, the article argues that there is a significant risk that new technologies will enable bias and discrimination, particularly given the high level of trust and reliance some users place on LLM outputs. Considering the Equality Act 2010, dedicated AI regulation like the European Union AI Act, and emerging Employment Tribunal decisions, the article considers how new technologies may serve to aggravate the existing problems with discrimination laws. While dedicated AI regulation offers some advantages, focusing on new regulation may draw attention away from addressing the existing limits of discrimination law. The article concludes that there is a need to reform discrimination law, including by expanding positive equality duties, to address the limits of individual enforcement and better respond to the discrimination risks of new technologies.
Alysia Blackham (Thu,) studied this question.