One in three Australians are at risk of losing their job to AI by 2030, the Australian Council Of Trade Unions (ACTU) revealed. It wants workers rights embedded in AI legislation, so that the future of the nation’s workers isn’t just decided by multinational corporations profiting from the evolving technology. “Without immediate intervention, Australians in both knowledge-based and manual work are more vulnerable to mass job losses through AI than workers in other comparable OECD countries,” a Social Policy Group report published on Tuesday found. ACTU said it is calling for a “fair go in the digital age” and will use consultations with the Department of Industry, Science, and Resources to push for coordinated government action on a whole-of-economy basis to protect all workers. “Unions will never accept workers being left behind,” ACTU Assistant Secretary Joseph Mitchell said. A long list of recommendations for the nation’s adoption of AI were published in the Senate Select Committee’s November report on the matter. One such recommendation advised that the final definition of “high-risk AI” clearly includes AI which impacts on the rights of people at work. It pushed for creative workers, rights holders and their representative organisations to be consistently consulted on the matter of copyright and the theft of their work by multinational tech companies, and be properly paid for any creative AI-input. It also recommended that the existing work health and safety legislative framework be expanded to include the workplace risks posed by the adoption of AI. ACTU said that such regulations would help prevent companies from “using AI systems to undermine working conditions, slash wages, and engage in intrusive monitoring and surveillance.” The findings in Tuesday’s report highlight the need for new investment and policy, according to ACTU. “Every Australian worker and small business will be alarmed by this research,” Mitchell said. “This research underscores the importance of union campaigns for a Future Made in Australia to create the jobs of the future, reinvigorating our TAFE and vocational training system, and investing in new jobs for a clean energy future. “These policies by the Albanese Labor Government must be built upon to deepen and diversify Australia’s economy – so we are building a better future for all workers. “Workers’ rights and voices should be embedded in every government and workplace response to AI, and they should be central to innovation policy going forward.”