Governor Hochul on Saturday signed an innocuous-sounding bill to “regulate the use of automated decision-making systems and artificial intelligence techniques by state agencies.” But the “Legislative Oversight of Automated Decision-making in Government,” or LOADinG Act, wasn’t about protecting New York from self-aware computers trying to wipe out humanity. Instead, it was an early Christmas present for the state’s public employee unions—and a lump of coal for New Yorkers hoping for more efficient state government.

The LOADinG Act (S7543/A9430, sponsored by Senator Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblyman Steven Otis) was a play by the unions, particularly the Public Employees Federation (PEF), to avoid if not effectively ban the use of new technology to perform tasks now performed by state employees.

PEF for more than a year cast aspersions about technologies under consideration at state agencies, bemoaning the use of “algorithms” and insisting on “a continued need for human oversight of AI systems.” Union officials exploited the public perception about what constitutes “artificial intelligence,” along with lawmakers’ relative disengagement from how state agencies are operating, and raised concerns about ethics, safety and accuracy. But many of these pretextual claims crumbled as PEF and other unions revealed their main concern.

“We need to protect workers from losing their jobs to AI systems,” one PEF officer told lawmakers in October.

The key language is in the new Section 402 of the State Technology Law:

The use of an automated decision-making system shall not result in the: (1) discharge, displacement or loss of position, including partial displacement such as a reduction in the hours of non-overtime work, wages, or employment benefits, or result in the impairment of existing collective bargaining agreements; (2) transfer of existing duties and functions currently performed by employees of the state or any agency or public authority thereof to an automated decision-making system; or (3) transfer of future duties and functions ordinarily performed by employees of the state or any agency or public authority. The use of an automated decision-making system shall not alter the rights or benefits, and privileges, including but not limited to terms and conditions of employment, civil service status, and collective bargaining unit membership status of all existing employees of the state or any agency or public authority thereof shall be preserved and protected. [emphasis added]

The Civil Service Employees Association, another public employee union, described the bill as “groundbreaking employee protection language that will prohibit the displacement of state employees when a state agency uses an AI program or system.”

“No other state,” CSEA notes, “has similar protections.”

And for good reason: these “protections” will bring slower-than-appropriate service delivery at higher-than-necessary costs, slamming the brakes on a multi-generation trend toward more efficiency, both across the economy and in state agencies themselves.

Hochul in her approval message indicated she wants the Legislature to make technical changes to the bill but overall played to the unions’ fear-mongering:

As technology develops, we must ensure it is used thoughtfully and responsibly by State government. It is important for workers to have an opportunity to help shape this evolving landscape as well as benefit from it.

Consider how state agencies in the late 1980s employed more than 10,000 people in “keyboarding” roles alone plus others in related clerical titles involving the physical handling of paper. But as state civil service officials noted at the time, “emerging technology requires a rethinking of how work is done and who does it.”

The number of state workers employed in “office or clerical” roles (later categorized as “administrative support”) fell about two-thirds over 35 years, from about 43,400 in 1988 to about 14,700 in 2023.

Plenty of technologies contributed to that displacement. Albany had more than 4,600 “senior stenographers” in 1988, for example, but only a small fraction remain.

The decline has continued in recent years: between 2018 and 2023, the number of state employees working in the three most common office assistant and administrative assistant roles dropped by about one-third, from 10,300 to 6,800.

An even bigger change occurred in the last decade as the state Thruway Authority, Bridge Authority and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey replaced about 2,000 toll collectors with automated tolling systems. While these changes displaced workers, they did more than just trim costs: they improved air quality, safety and travel times.

With more opportunities emerging to use what can loosely be defined as “artificial intelligence,” state government can produce faster turnaround times with higher quality results (and less paper) for tasks ranging from permitting to issuing unemployment benefits to renewing professional licenses.

Provided, that is, that public employee unions don’t keep sabotaging them.