AI use at work raises data and job security concerns

Artificial intelligence tools can make workplace tasks faster, but careless use could put personal data, business secrets and employees’ own work at risk, ORF reported. The Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour advises workers to use AI carefully and ensure that people remain responsible for the final results.

AI tools such as ChatGPT can answer emails, create texts and analyse data. Christian Maier, an employment law expert at the Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour, compared current questions about workplace AI with earlier debates over the use of the internet at work.

Employees should clarify with their employer how extensively they may use AI, Maier said. Problems could arise if workers outsourced virtually all of their duties to an AI system instead of performing the work themselves.

Personal information such as bank details, salary data and health records should not be entered into AI systems without checks, Maier said. Business and trade secrets should also be protected. Prompts should be anonymised, and AI-generated results should always be reviewed by a person.

Employers can allow or prohibit the use of AI at work. Maier recommended clear rules, such as company agreements or internal guidelines. In jobs requiring creative input, employers could require workers to develop their own ideas.

Employers may also check how a text or project was created by asking employees about its development. Maier said AI generally produces results based on many requests, while new creative ideas usually do not come from the system itself.

A survey by software and technology company Tieto found that one in six working people in Austria uses AI secretly at work. Tieto said the absence of company guidelines was one reason employees turned to what is known as shadow AI.

Maier said fear of losing their jobs was another reason. AI currently poses a risk mainly to routine tasks, he said, but could eventually affect more complex work and entire occupational fields.

The Vorarlberg Chamber of Labour has already received initial enquiries, particularly from works councils. These concern possible employee monitoring through technical systems. Maier warned that any technical tool could also be misused for monitoring staff.

A prompt is an input, instruction or question given to an AI system to obtain a specific answer or action.