Editorial: Sharing work with AI: introduction to the special issue on the futures of work in the age of intelligent machines
Abstract
This special issue of Information, Technology & People presents research that highlights the complex impact of computer systems with advanced reasoning capabilities – intelligent machines – on workplace tasks. As both pundits and scholars increasingly observe, intelligent machines can now adeptly perform tasks that were previously considered exclusive to humans. Machines regularly recognize images and speech with accuracy approaching, or even surpassing, human abilities. Large language models, too, increasingly display the ability to execute diverse work tasks with greater speed and lower cost than human workers. These growing capabilities are already influencing labor markets and promise to reshape the structure and nature of work in the coming years.This special issue seeks to stand apart from the ample popular discourse today that primarily emphasizes the job displacement and machine autonomy risks of intelligent machines. Instead, we bring together a set of papers that adopt a more expansive view. Our curatorial aim is to showcase research that, collectively, helps us understand, design and improve work shared with (rather than fully replaced by) intelligent machines. As the World Economic Forum notes, “[intelligent machines] are likely to substitute specific tasks previously carried out as part of these jobs” (2016), so deeply examining the role of intelligent machines within the context of work today can help us better anticipate some potential implications. We know,…
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