WMCW'S STATEMENT AT THE 114TH INTERNATIONAL LABOR CONFERENCE

Mr. President,
Mr. Director General,
Ladies and Gentlemen Delegates,

I speak as co-president of the World Movement of Christian Workers, which brings together more than 50 organizations across four continents.

A preliminary clarification: AI is not “intelligent.” It compiles and organizes millions of pieces of information but is not creative. With this in mind, the following statements from your report seem central to us:

• “AI reconfigures employment more by transforming tasks and the organization of work than by eliminating jobs on a large scale.” AI can contribute to risk prevention… But work intensification, cognitive overload, and permanent monitoring can create new psychosocial and ergonomic risks. (33)
• “Human-centered transitions mean that people must be at the heart of transformation. Technology must complement human capabilities.” (72)
• The right to information is a central issue in workplaces where AI tools are deployed. I find it very worrying that workers may be subject to decisions made by automated systems without understanding how they function, what data they rely on, or how they reach their results. (121)

How far should we accept that supposed intelligence decides for us? As a movement of education and action, we affirm the preeminent place of the human being to reflect, to produce free judgment, committed not only to guaranteeing decent work but dignified work.

We echo here the words of Pope Leo: “Artificial intelligences, devoid of experience, values, and feelings, can never and must never assume a role of responsibility and supremacy over human intelligence.”

The “free” nature often highlighted is misleading: our data are harvested by the GAFAM, masters of algorithms. These impressive financial powers, with disproportionate tools of influence, are able to interfere with the course of the world and alter collective consciousness.

Data collection has a cost. One example comes from a member of our movement in Madagascar, who, like many Malagasy workers, performs data entry tasks essential to the functioning of international algorithms: “My name is Elina and I work in an organic products store that uses artificial intelligence. My role is to record invoices. I process up to 1,500 invoices per day for a salary of 120 euros per month. I must train intensively to automate my tasks, acting almost like a machine.”

Digital technology offers new economic opportunities while creating significant constraints for workers. These jobs often remain low-skilled and poorly paid, revealing the unequal integration of developing countries into the global economy.

As Christians, Pope Leo’s encyclical strengthens this analysis and calls us to remain vigilant and active:

“At a time when everything is manipulable, it is necessary to preserve an education in critical sense that allows us to distinguish truth from falsehood. When efficiency becomes the dominant criterion, work risks losing its human and relational value. Freedom is threatened by digital dependencies and massive data collection; its defense requires fair rules, shared responsibility, and education. To preserve the conditions of a truly human life, capable of truth, of dignified work, and of real freedom, a collective effort is necessary.”

As unavoidable as the wheel when it was invented, we must “deal with” AI! Let us keep perspective and analysis! Let us educate and, if necessary, resist! In the name of social justice and in the name of an economy for life, we invite everyone to train, to question the uses of AI, and to denounce its abuses and dangers for the world of work, for living conditions, and to participate in any action that makes the world more human.

Thank you for your attention.

Christine ISTURIZ

Only the spoken text is authoritative.