In response to widespread concerns about data tracking and the collection of personal information, corporations are deploying a new brand of technologies, including forms of artificial intelligence, that claim to be “privacy-preserving” or “privacy-friendly” because they protect individuals’ personal data. But protecting workers’ personal data does not necessarily lead to protecting workers. Because corporations can use these Privacy-Preserving AI Techniques as workarounds to analyze data at scale and make predictions without “touching” personal data, these technologies can enable corporations to technically comply with data privacy laws while exerting control over workers in ways that should cause grave concern.

Left unchecked and absent proactive intervention, these technologies will be deployed in ways that further obscure accountability, entrench inequality, and strip workers of their voice and agency. Stronger state-level enforcement of existing laws — and most fundamentally, new workplace technology rights and standards — are necessary to protect workers from an expanding web of invisible control and digital exploitation.

In response, this brief — a collaboration between Data & Society, PowerSwitch Action, and Coworker — proposes three forward-looking design principles that target root causes, addressing the overall deficit of worker power and autonomy that tends to worsen as employers deploy new technologies. Paired with concrete legislative tools, enforcement reforms, and grassroots policy change efforts already underway across the US, these principles offer a roadmap for bold governance that provides meaningful protection to workers and positions them to be decision-makers in the digital age.

Event: From Our Workplaces to Our Communities: Stop the AI Surveillance Pipeline Now!

On November 18, join organizers and experts for a cross-issue panel discussion exploring how workers and communities are pushing back. The event will feature speakers from Data & Society, PowerSwitch Action, Just Futures Law, National Employment Law Project, Tech Equity Collaborative, Coworker, Gig Workers Rising, and Warehouse Worker Resource Center, and will be moderated by Seema N. Patel of UC Law San Francisco.