Bill proposed to safeguard workers from AI-driven job losses

The Atlas robot demonstrates moving parts at Hyundai Motor’s booth at CES in Las Vegas, Jan. 7 (local time). Yonhap

Lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require the government to better protect workers from job losses caused by artificial intelligence (AI), amid growing concerns that machines will replace human labor — fears recently sharpened by Hyundai Motor’s Atlas humanoid robot project.

The amendment would require the national AI strategy to address “protecting workers’ job security and supporting their transition into new roles” as the labor market changes.

“As AI and robotics have advanced rapidly in recent years, they have begun to replace not only simple, repetitive jobs but also skilled professionals, spreading employment insecurity across society,” Rep. Choi Eun-seok and 10 other lawmakers from the opposition People Power Party said in the proposal.

The bill seeks to “clarify the state’s policy basis for tackling employment issues in the AI era and to lay an institutional foundation for preserving the people’s rights and improving their quality of life,” they added.

Choi’s office insists the bill is not a rushed response.

“This isn’t a law we just put together now — we have been preparing it for a long time,” an aide for the lawmakers told The Korea Times on Thursday, noting that the team has been tracking the impact of AI and automation for years.

“These days, even in the service sector, you see a lot of automated ordering machines, and many people are losing their jobs because of that,” he said. “We felt there had to be a way to respond and help people move into other kinds of work — if jobs suddenly disappear all at once, it becomes a social problem.”

Initially, Choi’s team wanted to include more concrete obligations in the bill — for example, linking job cuts to requirements to create new roles elsewhere. But they later concluded that such detailed measures would not suit a broad AI framework law, and narrowed the amendment to what could realistically be included.

The bill comes amid growing unease that AI will displace human workers.

Hyundai Motor announced last month that it plans to mass-produce Atlas humanoid robots at a new U.S. plant by 2028 and gradually deploy them across its assembly lines. The company is promoting the project as the cornerstone of its “physical AI” future, in which AI-controlled industrial machines work alongside or in place of humans to handle risky or monotonous tasks.

Some industry analysts estimate annual maintenance costs at about 14 million won ($9,700) for each Atlas robot, which can operate almost 24 hours a day, compared with workers who each cost the company about 130 million won per year.

Hyundai Motor’s labor union has strongly protested the plan. However, President Lee Jae Myung has effectively dismissed resistance to technological change, saying people “have to adapt quickly to the new society (AI) creates,” in remarks apparently aimed at the unionized workers.

Tensions over the issue are expected to continue to flare in the coming years. At a press conference Thursday, Yang Kyeung-soo, chairperson of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a powerful umbrella group with more than 1 million members, reiterated organized labor’s stance.

“The introduction of AI without a labor-management agreement will rapidly destroy jobs and create a new underclass living in extreme poverty,” Yang said. “Whether it is the adoption of industrial robots or automation, it must proceed only under conditions where there has been sufficient deliberation and agreement on how it will affect labor and what alternatives will be put in place.”