On July 9, management software developer Lattice unveiled new plans for AI employees (or digital employees, as they call them) to be treated just like real people. "Today, Lattice makes history and leads the way in responsible employment of AI" the blog's headline reads.
As the best AI chatbots surge in popularity, it seems like technology companies are trying to force artificial intelligence into every part of our lives. Smartphones are getting the likes of Apple Intelligence and Galaxy AI features, while movie companies release dreadful AI films. The sheer amount of AI is astounding.
The impending moment where AI takes our jobs seems inevitable, especially as ChatGPT partners with Vox Media and TIME magazine for journalistic resources, and OpenAI's CTO believes that some jobs should be forgotten thanks to AI. However, plenty of people have pushed back on digital workers, as Lattice's latest update is being rolled back.
In a recent blog post, Lattice's CEO, Sarah Franklin, shared an update that would treat AI workers like real workers. The update for the management software would have been "the first to give digital workers official employee records", by letting HR and hiring managers add profiles for AI workers.
"Digital workers will be securely onboarded, trained, and assigned goals, performance metrics, appropriate systems access, and even a manager." the blog post reads, "Just as any person would be." Franklin shared the blog post to her LinkedIn page, and the responses are unsurprising, to say the least.
"Treating AI agents as employees disrespects the humanity of your real employees. Worse, it implies that you view humans simply as "resources" to be optimized and measured against machines." one comment reads. "You keep using that word “workers”. I do not think it means what you think it means." Another one says. Ironically, the blog post ends with "Lattice. Because people.", and one worker pointed out the irony.
Since the announcement was made, Lattice have stopped the update. A small note at the top of the blog reads "We look forward to continuing to work with our customers on the responsible use of AI, but will not further pursue digital workers in the product." A victory for humans over the AI revolution, despite the Godfather of AI's belief that the technology will end humanity.
Funnily enough, with Lattice's treatment of 'digital workers' like real people, the AI employees have technically been made redundant. Considering the state of the technology industry and the surge of layoffs, this is pretty funny.