Introduction
The concept of work has evolved over time. Presently, workplace environments are undergoing rapid changes due to globalization, technological advancements, and shifts in employment patterns. The rise of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace has reduced the need for traditional physical labour. However, it has also raised concerns about job loss and new types of work-related stress. In this alert, we present the paradigm shift of intersection of AI and work, its benefits, associated risks, employer obligations, and recommendations for governance of the changing dynamics of work in the digital age.

Touted Benefits of AI
AI is being implemented in various sectors, including language translation, public services, healthcare, and agriculture. In the employment context, the confluence of technology and AI with employment dynamics presents remarkable opportunities for:

• Catalyzing job creation, particularly in emerging industries
• Promoting inclusivity at the workplace
• Verifying employee identity
• Enhancing safety and security at the workplace
• Ensuring efficiency of business process
• Realizing individual employee benefits from persistent memory, follow-up prompts, and automation of repetitive tasks

Shifting paradigms
Intersection of AI and work is crucial to envisioning a future where human potential and technological advancement coexist harmoniously. However, adapting to this transformation presents significant risks that demand a fundamental shift in employment law and systems as follows:

Understanding the Key Risks associated with the use of AI applications at the workplace include:

• Violation of data privacy when employers are unable to establish a legal basis for processing personal data when using AI.
• Job automation which could jeopardize economic security and add to growing inequality, particularly among low-income communities.
• Non-transparent algorithms and decision-making that threaten fairness, transparency, and workers’ rights, income stability, and job security.
• Risk of negative impacts on workers’ health as AI-driven monitoring and measurement of productivity may undermine self-determination and raise employees’ anxiety levels.
• Risk of reinforcement of structures that deny employee labour rights such as social security and collective bargaining.

These risks may be amplified in Africa where high prevalence of informality often locks workers into traps characterized by low pay and minimal rights protection.

Key Considerations for Employers
As work evolves, employers should address the key risks by:

• Striking a balance between harnessing AI for enhanced productivity and ensuring employee autonomy.
• Training its personnel to ensure that they satisfy legal and moral necessities of AI deployment and use at the workplace.
• Investing in upskilling and reskilling schemes to prepare workers and develop their capacity    for    emerging AI-facilitated job competencies and possibilities.
• Mapping and prioritizing regulatory  requirements  and
• standards under existing and emerging AI-specific regulations.
• Being open to consultation with trade unions or employee representatives with a view to arriving at a balanced approach to introduction of AI at the workplace.
• Reimagining collective bargaining mechanisms for AI work.
• Providing safeguards against biased firing and intrusive monitoring or surveillance.
• Integrating fairness and accountability into algorithmic systems.
• Ensuring employee welfare by minimizing technostress, anxiety, and job insecurity.
• Performing AI impact assessment to uncover and mitigate threats to jobs, human rights, and employees’   mental   health.

Key Considerations for Other Stakeholders

• A balanced approach to introducing AI in the workplace requires action from multiple stakeholders.
• Beyond employers, other key players have complementary roles in promoting ethical AI use at workplace as follows:
• Lawmakers must update labour laws to reflect the realities of risks from work automation and AI use at the workplace.
• Regulatory bodies should embed ethical governance principles in AI oversight to ensure systems adopted at the workplace are transparent, fair, and inclusive.
• Workers should prioritize lifelong learning and reskilling programs to develop both technical and soft skills that are essential for thriving in the AI era.

Conclusion
AI is transforming the concept of work, its nature, how it is performed, and managed within business processes. The ongoing effects of this change are influencing economic structures as well as social and legal institutions within societies, both nationally and globally. This is not just a temporary change. For the rapidly changing dynamics of work, reliance on hybrid human-machine systems will continue to shape how work is carried out.

As lawmakers and policymakers step in to regulate AI use, employers must position themselves by proactively leveraging the potential of AI while safeguarding workers from displacement, inequality, and exploitation.

In our outlook, and like many others, we believe that the future requires employers and stakeholders to ensure AI applications in the workplace benefit humanity (rather than replace it), focus on ethical considerations, and maintain ongoing dialogue that includes diverse perspectives.