The Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines (WAIM) Research Coordination Network is pleased to announce the WAIM Doctoral Research Fellowship program—a competition that aims to recognize and support outstanding graduate research related to the convergence of intelligent machines and the future of work.
This paper presents an approach for describing and characterizing al-gorithms that are discussed as though they embody artificial intelligence. After identifying key assumptions related to algorithms and summarizing work sys-tem theory (WST), this paper uses a hypothetical example to introduces aspects of WST and two additional ideas, facets of work and dimensions of smartness in devices and systems. Next, it applies those ideas to aspects of five AI-related examples presented by entrepreneurs and researchers at an MIT AI conference in July 2020.
The rise of data-driven technologies in recent years has sparked renewed attention to questions of technological sensemaking and in particular the explainability or interpretability of such systems (a growing technical subfield commonly called “Explainable AI” or “XAI”). These approaches tend to focus on the technology itself (often at the level of model or predictive output) and fail to consider the broader context of use and the situated nature of technological sensemaking.
Course Description: Humanities senior seminar. Combine current theory with practice to prepare students as socially conscious technology developers. Analyze complex social and technical situations to develop socially appropriate responses through tasks that involve problem analysis, ethical considerations, and technology issues regarding influences on the distribution of jobs and nature of work.
On May 18-19, 2018, a workshop was held at Michigan State University: “Autonomous Vehicles in Society: Building a Research Agenda.” The workshop produced an agenda for social, economic, and policy research on connected and autonomous vehicles and infrastructure to support that research.
The Workshop on Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines was held at the 6th AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing (HCOMP) on July 5, 2018 in Zurich, Switzerland. The workshop explored ways in which human work and occupations will be changed as artificial intelligence becomes more increasingly prevalent in the workplace. The workshop was a part of a series of workshops funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) convergence grant on the future of work.
The Professional Development Workshop (PDW) Work in the Age of Intelligent
Machines: Towards Disciplinary Convergence was held at the Academy of Management Annual
Meeting on 11 August 2018 in Chicago, USA. The PDW explored ways in which human work
and occupations will be changed as artificial intelligence becomes more increasingly prevalent in
the workplace. The PDW was a part of a series of workshops funded by a National Science
Foundation (NSF) convergence grant on the future of work. A range of academic, industry, and
In the past five years or so, the popular media and, more recently, academic discourse, have been brimming with accounts of how new technological advances in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and algorithms will transform the landscape of work, with ramifications for occupations and employment on a potentially grand scale. In this doctoral seminar, we will examine the claims, the current reality, and likely futures of work in the age of these new technologies.
