Workers urgently need more bargaining power over the way AI is adopted in the workplace to ensure the benefits are fairly shared, according to a TUC-backed report from a leading thinktank.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is calling for a package of measures to boost employees’ influence at what it calls a “pivotal moment in the history of work”.

Its report cites survey data showing that while 20% of workers say AI is making their working life better, 21% say it has made it worse – and 4% believe they have already lost a job because of the technology.

The IPPR distinguishes between three potential impacts of the technology: augmentation, where it complements human labour; degradation, where it undermines the experience of work, for example, by being used to monitor and manage workers; and displacement, where it replaces workers altogether.

“The question is not whether AI will disrupt working life, but who will have the power to shape that disruption – and whose interests it will ultimately…