Using artificial intelligence to ease work is old news, but giving AI “employees” similar treatment to their human counterparts is on a different level. This is a trend demonstrated by the human resource startup Lattice, which made headlines after granting its “digital workers” job rights.
The HR software company—founded by Sam Altman’s brother Jack Altman and valued at $3 billion in 2022—announced that it “made history” by giving its AI algorithms or its so-called “digital workers” employee records and adding them into organisational charts. This change is part of Lattice’s broader effort to integrate AI into the workplace “responsibly,” which essentially means treating the technology like a human employee by training it, onboarding it, and even giving it managerial roles.
“The conversation around digital workers has been theoretical—until now. The AI workforce is here, and Lattice believes that we need to fully understand what it looks like to integrate AI employees into the workforce to make sure we create transparent, responsible practices around hiring AI,” said Sarah Franklin, Lattice chief executive officer. “That’s why we want to be the first to bring an AI employee through all the same steps as a human one—onboarding, goal setting, receiving feedback—to uncover the challenges we’ll face with the AI workforce and start to come up with practical solutions for our customers.”
However, Lattice’s AI project raised concerns for the future of AI integration into the workspace.
“This strategy and messaging misses the mark in a big way, and I say that as someone building an AI company. Treating AI agents as employees disrespects the humanity of your real employees. Worse, it implies that you view humans simply as “resources” to be optimised and measured against machines,” AI sales platform Aomni chief of staff Sawyer Middeleer wrote in a LinkedIn comment replying to an announcement post by Franklin.
Another LinkedIn user described the project as “terrifying,” emphasising that human workers are already facing significant challenges and now have to compete with “AI workers.”
In response to the surge of backlash, Lattice issued an update, declaring the abandonment of the said initiative just three days after its initial announcement.
“This innovation sparked a lot of conversation and questions that have no clear answers yet,” Franklin said in a statement to Fortune. “We look forward to continuing to work with our customers on the responsible use of AI but will not further pursue digital workers in the product.”
This incident highlights the complexities and uncertainties surrounding the implementation of AI within the modern workforce. While the idea of treating artificial intelligence as real employees may seem innovative, it raises significant concerns and ethical considerations, such as job displacement and workplace inequalities, especially for employees who lack access to training and resources to work effectively with AI.