ChatGPT: Labor court allows AI use

The use of ChatGPT and other chatbots is controversial both in the world of work and in the field of education. The Hamburg Labor Court has now issued an exciting ruling, at least for the professional world. After a works council applied for a ban on artificial intelligence (AI), the court rejected the request without further ado. The reasoning behind the ruling sounds particularly exciting.

ChatGPT raises questions everywhere

Chatbots like ChatGPT are intended to simplify our lives. This also includes answering everyday questions. However, the AI raises big, important questions that it probably can’t answer itself – at least not without being biased. Should chatbots be regulated? Where is their use permitted? These and other questions are currently not only occupying politicians. The courts also have work to do. The labor court in Hamburg has now issued a rather exciting ruling. It came to the conclusion that ChatGPT can be used even in the absence of a works agreement.

The court’s decision was necessary after a works council had submitted several applications to ban ChatGPT and other AI assistants. The works council cited the currently rather nebulous internal company regulations as the reason for the application. There was no Group works agreement containing regulations on the use of AI. The works council approached the court as a last resort after unsuccessfully asking the company management to block ChatGPT and Co.

Court refers to free access in the browser

A look at the written judgment of January 16, 2024, which has now been published, allows us to take a look at the court’s reasoning. There, the judges referred to the so-called “co-determination-free working behavior”, which is laid down in the Works Constitution Act. Since ChatGPT is freely accessible in the browser, there is already a corresponding agreement on the part of the company management. The situation would be different if the company had now installed ChatGPT as a stand-alone program on the company’s internal PCs.

The works council’s request was preceded by a company directive. Here, the employees of the 1,600-strong company were asked to use chatbots such as ChatGPT in order to do their work more efficiently. The ruling makes it clear that the use of AI in the workplace is a real contentious issue in many companies. It remains to be seen where the journey of ChatGPT and co. will take us in the professional world.