Labor exploitation

Classification

Domain

6. Socioeconomic & Environmental

Subdomain

6.2 Increased inequality and decline in employment quality

Causal entity

Human

Intent

Intentional

Timing

Pre-deployment

Subdomain definition: Widespread use of AI increasing social and economic inequalities, such as by automating jobs, reducing the quality of employment, or producing exploitative dependencies between workers and their employers.

Real-world incidents in this subdomain

• 21 Oct 2024Polish Radio Station Replaces Human Hosts with AI-Generated Presenters to Simulate Interviewing Deceased Poet Wisława Szymborska
• 5 Jan 2023Fast Food Chains' AI Chatbots Failed to Assist Job Applicants with Scheduling Interviews
• 1 Nov 2021Kenyan Data Annotators Allegedly Exposed to Graphic Content for OpenAI's AI
• 1 Sep 2016RealPage Algorithm Allegedly Inflates Rents and Reduces Competition in Housing Market
• 25 Sep 2015Amazon Flex Drivers Allegedly Fired via Automated Employee Evaluations
• 14 Aug 2014Kronos Scheduling Algorithm Allegedly Caused Financial Issues for Starbucks Employees

How other frameworks describe this risk

• Job loss/losses

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Societal destabilisation

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Societal inequality

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Labour exploitation

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Political instability

  A Collaborative, Human-Centred Taxonomy of AI, Algorithmic, and Automation Harms (Abercrombie2024)

• Increased income disparity

  The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

• Economic

  The Rise of Artificial Intelligence - Future Outlooks and Emerging Risks (Allianz2018)

• Effects on the Workforce

  Foundational Challenges in Assuring Alignment and Safety of Large Language Models (Anwar2024)

Other entries from Li2025

• - Risk Category · 5.2
• Impersonation / identity theft Risk Sub-Category · 4.3
• IP / copyright / personality / rights loss Risk Sub-Category · 4.3
• Autonomy / agency loss Risk Sub-Category · 5.2
• - Risk Category
• Political instability Risk Sub-Category · 6.0
• Institutional trust loss Risk Sub-Category · 4.1
• Economic manipulation Risk Sub-Category · 4.3
• - Risk Category · 3.1
• Propagating misconceptions / false beliefs Risk Sub-Category · 3.1
• Pollution of information ecosystems Risk Sub-Category · 3.2
• Erosion of trust in public information Risk Sub-Category · 3.2