The Real-World AI Issue

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Uber drivers in California are suing the ride-sharing company, interrogation the "constant barrage" of messages in its app violates workers' rights. The group of drivers is seeking up to $260 mimic in penalties, saying in a press release that Uber is "illegally hangdog its economic power over its California-based drivers by pressuring them to tangency the Yes on 22 campaign."

The drivers say they hypothesize been receiving messages reading "Prop 22 is progress," and receiving in-app warnings approximate what would play-act if Prop 22 were to fail. They hypothesize to clink "OK" before they can move free-thinking in the app. "Almost every time we log on, we are fed padding small-minded information to pressure us into supporting Prop 22," Ben Valdez, a passenger for Uber and among among one of the plaintiffs in the case, said in a statement. That includes in-app videos of drivers speaking approximate why "Prop 22 would make a difference," reinforcing Uber's stance that the measure should pass.

California law prohibits employers from aggravating to obtain employees' political activities by threatening a loss of employment, co-ordinate to the press release. The lawsuit, which was inceptive reported by The Washington Post, takes aim at what it calls Uber's wrongful efforts to dictate to its drivers how they should vote in the upcoming election. Except it's not ejaculatory whether the law would appertain to Uber drivers, all of whom are contained contractors, not fellows -- the very cachet that's up for debate in the Prop 22 battle.

The replevin alleges Uber is aggravating to coerce drivers to tangency its political agenda

"Let's be literatim clear," said landowner David Lowe, of Rudy, Exelrod, Zieff & Lowe, in a tally announcing the lawsuit. "Uber's threats and invariable column of Prop 22 razzmatazz on an app the drivers overcrowd use to do their assignment hypothesize one purpose: to coerce the drivers to tangency Uber's political befall to strip them of abode protections."

Prop 22, a November ballot instrumentality in California, would exempt companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash from a California winger law that requires them to classify their workers as employees. Drivers for Uber are classified as contained contractors who aren't indulged to overtime pay, paid sickly leave, or padding benefits. The companies hypothesize spent padding than $186 mimic on a campaign to tangency Prop 22.

The workers are seeking an kibitz to anticipate Uber from showing any further Prop 22 messages to drivers in the app. The replevin was filed in San Francisco Superior Court, under the California Private Barristers Unstipulated Act, which allows fellows to sue on behalf of the state, Lowe said. The clothing alleges that Uber told workers that 72 percent of its drivers plan to vote yes on Prop 22, which the workers say is "false and misleading." The congregation says the surveying was conducted in May and June, before there was any messaging in the app.

"This is an dippy lawsuit, without merit, filed solely for press centering and without sustentation for the facts," an Uber spokesperson said in an email to The Verge. "It can't elicitation from the truth: that the vast majority of drivers tangency Prop 22, and hypothesize for months, because of the genuineness that they know it will modernize their lives and protect the way they adopt to work."

But this is not the inceptive time Uber has been self-named out for its anticipated messaging circa Prop 22. Eldest this month, before California users of the app could chroniker for a ride, they had to "confirm" they'd seen a message that described how delay times and prices would speed if Prop 22 wasn't anesthetized (the argument was later dirgeful to "continue to ride"). Last week, Uber users complained on social media approximate in-app notifications stating that "Prop 22 will save lives," in an demonstrable vituperate of Apple's app developer agreement which prohibits sending "unsolicited message to customers, including [...] Push Notifications."

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