Prepare for AI Regulation Ahead When Advising Employer Clients

  • September 20, 2024
  • Maciej Lipinski

To paraphrase a common adage: technology gets halfway around the world before regulation puts its pants on.

Generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies are developing at a rapid pace and are increasingly a presence in many workplaces whether employers know it or not. The 2024 Work Trend Index on the state of AI at work released earlier this year by LinkedIn and Microsoft revealed that 78% of respondent generative AI users are already bringing AI tools to work (dubbed “bring-your-own-AI” or “BYOAI”), and the majority of those users report being reluctant to admit that they use AI for their most important work tasks.

While many employers are already considering, or are in the process of, taking steps to address the growing adoption and use of generative AI among their employees, important legal regulatory frameworks are also in development at both the Provincial and Federal levels.

For lawyers advising employer clients grappling with generative AI in the workplace, it is increasingly important to keep an eye on the regulatory developments ahead.