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Artificial intelligence makes for an intriguing movie plot line. Generally, it is portrayed as negative or even evil in fiction. But how is artificial intelligence (AI) in the public sector workplace – and in reality?
“Technology is moving faster than anything we’ve dealt with before in the world of work,” said OCSEA President Chris Mabe. “So many things are coming out so rapidly. OCSEA members need to get out ahead of the curve.”
He advised the best way to respond to AI advancements is to get training. Employees who are current on the new technology will have employment security. The Union Education Trust has programs to ensure eligible bargaining unit employees can learn about AI and other emerging technologies.
“I tell people: AI is not replacing people,” Mabe said. “It’s a tool to be used to help people do their work. It will help increase capacity, creativity, and data compilation.”
“You need to garner the skills to utilize these technologies so the people who have the skills don’t replace you,” he added.
In addition to offering UET benefits, OCSEA has addressed AI by guaranteeing rights in the contract. OCSEA’s 2024-2027 negotiated contract includes language that gives the union a seat at the table as it relates to the use of AI in state agencies, Mabe said.
AFSCME, the public employees’ union that OCSEA is affiliated with, passed resolutions at the national convention, held in August 2024, that relate to the use of AI, robotics, and technology. AFSCME has established governance practices to protect members and work, Mabe said.
AI is a term that has been around since Stanford University’s John McCarthy used the name in 1955. It’s a technology that was birthed in the post-World War II era when people began to create intelligent machines, according to McCarthy. He credits English mathematician Alan Turing for focusing on “programming computers rather than … building machines.”
AI is the use of computers to perform tasks that in the past would require human intelligence.
“I would define AI as data pattern recognition software meant to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence,” said Dylan Miller, a software development specialist 4 in the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. “It basically looks at data and quickly analyzes it to come up with solutions or to find patterns. That’s an older definition of AI. It has been around for a long time. It’s generative AI that is new.”
The programming of AI involves algorithms – formulas – that enable the computer to improve its results as it operates. Because computers are much quicker than people at processing information, AI produces results in time-saving ways.
“AI” as a term is like “doctor”: very general, according to David Hwang, a software development specialist 4 with the Ohio State Board of Education.
“There are different kinds of AI,” he said. “AI uses a model to try to see how best to respond. In generative AI, if you want it to generate content – a letter or essay – you ask it or prompt it for something. It will return back a response that it finds to be the right answer or most common response based on what’s out there, what it’s crunched to be the most common answer.”
Hwang, who serves on the Joint IT 8.05 Labor-Management Committee and the UET IT Committee, used the example of Microsoft Word’s paperclip assistant from the 1990s.
“AI is the decades-newer version of the old paperclip,” he said. “It’s the nth generation asking ‘Can I help you? Do you have a question?’”
AI is a learning model, Hwang explained. It is “trained” to return information. A common form of this type of AI is ChatGPT.
The difference between AI and other recent technological advances is that using AI does not require computer programming skills.
“It’s the ability to talk to a computer and get it to do what you want it to do – without being a programmer,” Mabe said.
“This brings it down to everyone,” he added. “It helps to have some education and training in writing prompts, and you always have to validate the results.”
People are talking about AI now because of the development of generative AI, Miller said.
“This is the first case where AI has been exposed to the general public at this level,” he said. “AI has been used in the past. Generative AI is new not only for how accessible it is but because of what it can produce, such as images and videos. The chains are off. AI can now also use the internet to assist with whatever it’s been tasked to do.”
The OCSEA Board of Directors has been working with UET on ways to bring training to the members at upcoming conferences.
“We’ve been partnering with a company that uses virtual reality,” Mabe said. “We can let people step into a virtual world of being a mechanic, a phlebotomist, a nurse, an administrative assistant. It gives a feel of what it would be like.”
“We’re trying to make training more accessible,” he said.
Knowledge of and experience in AI will ensure that public employees work with AI instead of being replaced by AI.
“I think we need to prepare as a union for AI,” Hwang said. “Upskill our members. UET will be one of our best weapons to protect ourselves for the future.”
John McCarthy: https://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai.pdf