Microsoft and ZeniMax Union Agree on AI Principles

Xbox’s parent company, Microsoft, has reached an agreement with ZeniMax Workers United on AI principles for worker safety in gaming. Microsoft committed to six guiding principles, including fairness and transparency.

The Communication Workers of America (CWA), representing ZeniMax Workers United, announced in a press release that Microsoft committed to directing AI usage at ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks, to improve worker productivity and satisfaction without causing harm. The commitment entails adherence to six guiding principles for AI usage:

The agreement commits ZeniMax to uses of AI that augment human ingenuity and capacities, to ensure that these tools enhance worker productivity, growth, and satisfaction without causing workers harm. Zenimax has agreed to provide notice to the union in cases where AI implementation may impact the work of union members and to bargain those impacts upon request. It establishes as guiding principles that AI implementations at work must be:

Fair

Reliable and Safe

Private and Secure

Inclusive

Transparent, and

Accountable

“Coming to this agreement was a high priority for us. It’s hard to say how developments with AI may impact our work, but now we can be more confident that the agreement will help to protect us as we navigate the potential adoption of AI into our workflow,” said Dylan Burton, senior QA tester.

The ZeniMax union formed in January, after Microsoft, the parent company, made a labor neutrality agreement with the CWA. This agreement involved the union’s support during the global scrutiny of the Activision Blizzard acquisition.