Samsung Strike Is a Taste of AI’s Future

It was supposed to be a good week for Samsung Electronics Co., with attention focused on the consumer gadgets to be unveiled Wednesday at its annual summer product event. Instead, the South Korean tech titan is grappling with an unprecedented three-day strike staged by its largest union.

This work stoppage is not about artificial intelligence taking peoples’ jobs. But the biggest organized labor action in Samsung’s 55-year history portends what companies inside and outside the tech industry will soon have to confront on a global scale. As generative AI technology increasingly threatens to upend entire industries and sow further labor unrest, firms creating this turbulence have an outsize responsibility to work with unions and give workers a seat at the table.