Artificial Intelligence, Automation, and the Future of Work

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 7
• Convenor and tutor: Dr Horen Voskeritsian
• Assessment: two 500-word blog posts (30%) and a 2000-word essay (70%)

Technological changes, especially the advent of AI and robotics, have radically reconceptualised the organisation of the labour process and have redefined the nature of work. In this context, discussions about the future of work (or whether work has any future) dominate the public sphere.

In this module we introduce you to the various debates regarding the impact of AI and automation on the reorganisation of work in modern capitalism, by situating the technological project within its wider socioeconomic and historical context.

Indicative syllabus

• From technophobia to techno-utopia: AI, automation and work
• Making (social) sense of technology
• Technology, productivity and labour share in late capitalism
• Technology and the quality of work
• Technology and the organisation of the labour process
• Technology, power and discipline in the workplace
• Work, ethics, AI
• AI and labour: some philosophical explorations
• Is there a future for work?

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• appreciate and evaluate how technology has been historically conceptualised in the scientific, political and cultural domain
• critically analyse and evaluate the impact of technology on employment and the labour process
• reflect on important philosophical and ethical questions that arise with respect to the use of technology in the economic cycle
• understand the central questions concerning the future of work.