Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence : A Criticism of Their Implementation in the Modern Workplace as It Relates to Employment Law

From the dawn of civilisation, automation and innovation have been at the forefront of society. At present, employers are eagerly looking for ways to optimise work and production processes. While AI has the potential to transform work and workplaces, displace jobs, create new jobs, and impact living conditions, it has, more often than not, proven to be opaque and incomprehensible. Like so, employment law is undergoing a “crisis” of its core principles, in which the traditional workplace hierarchy is quickly changing, or rather mutating, into something entirely novel. Much like Narcissus who fell in love with his own image reflected in the water, employers are mesmerised by the beauty of the posited rationality and efficacy of AI and algorithmic technologies. Fundamentally, we have reached a point where appropriate policy decisions are desperately needed in order to address the shifting labour dynamics and the future of the employer-employee relationship