Robot Labor Law. Research lines for a new branch of labour law and in view of the 2024 G7 session on artificial intelligence

Abstract

The tech transformation is forcing us to rethink new solutions for mapping risks and opportunities arising from interactions between robot and worker (IWRs). While doing so, we must keep in mind that the debate is not about robots and artificial intelligence, but about us, who will have to live and work with them. In such line, we are aware that there are challenging changes. Such changes should be investigated in relation to the occurrence of new social and psychophysical risks connected to IWRs. My essay is built on the conviction that robots, empowered by AI (below also “Frontier AI”, notion that is line with the 2023 London AI Safety Summit), should not merely augment humans in their capabilities, but that robots and workers can become better together, thereby
boosting worker wellbeing and productivity. The absence of a unified scientific framework makes us blind to various forms of reciprocity that exist when robots share the same physical and social space as workers. My thesis is aimed at buttressing the forefront of understanding and shaping the future of work regulation around robots. Also upon the results of an ongoing transdisciplinary research project, I intend to develop a basis for a new academic knowledge concerning the IWRs regulation (i.e. the "Robot Labor Law" - RLL). The RLL may bring unprecedented benefits to individual workers, teams, corporations, institutions, and organizations.

Keywords: Robot, Labor Law, AI, Workers

JEL Classification: K13, K31