TORY ministers are failing to protect workers from being exploited by artificial intelligence (AI), the TUC will warn today.

New technology is making “high-risk, life-changing” decisions about people’s lives, including using facial expressions, tone of voice and accents to assess candidates’ suitability for roles, the union body charged.

Left unchecked, AI, which employees are “being kept in the dark about,” could lead to “greater discrimination at work across the economy,” it argued. 

The intervention came as politicians, tech leaders, regulators and unions meet in London for the TUC’s AI conference.

Assistant general secretary Kate Bell and David Davis MP — former chair of the all-party parliamentary group on the future of work —are among the speakers set to address the event at TUC Congress House.

The union body reiterated its concerns about the government’s “vague and flimsy” Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, arguing that it is already setting a “worrying direction of travel.”

The proposed legislation, which follows a TUC poll last year revealing clear support for stronger regulation of new technology at work, “sets out Britain’s common sense-led data laws and will give organisations greater flexibility to protect personal data,” according to the government.

But the union body said that it will fail to regulate AI and also “dilute important rights” currently guaranteed under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.  

These include safeguards against automated decision-making and commitments to allow workers and unions a say over the introduction of new technologies through impact assessments. 

Ahead of the conference, Ms Bell said: “AI is going to transform the way millions work in this country and is already being used across the economy to line-manage and hire and fire staff.

“Without fair rules, this could lead to widespread discrimination and unfair treatment at work.

“But the government is refusing to put in place the necessary guardrails to stop people from being exploited.

“Ministers have issued a series of vague and flimsy commitments that are not worth the paper they are written on, leaving workers more vulnerable to unscrupulous employers.”

Paddy Lillis, head of retail union Usdaw, demanded action following estimates that AI means nine in 10 employees need to retrain by 2030.

He told the Morning Star: “We need a new deal for workers that offers real investment in skills and training, along with providing well-paid, high-quality and secure employment, to make work fair and just for all.”