PhD Summer School 2023 Artificial Intelligence and the Transformation of Work: Employment, Skills and Job Quality in Germany

PhD Summer School 2023
Artificial Intelligence and the Transformation of Work:
Employment, Skills and Job Quality
Location: Berlin, Germany
Dates: 11-14 September, 2023

Rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and automation technologies are set to have a significant impact on a broad range of professions. Advanced software systems with high degrees of autonomy will prospectively execute a broad range of functions, including high-skill and non-routine tasks like retrieving information, coordinating logistics, handling of inventories, preparing tax reports, providing financial services, translating complex documents, writing business reports, preparing legal briefs and diagnosing diseases.These developments affect the way in which human workers execute their tasks, resulting in new challenges with regard to their ability to understand and evaluate machine-generated inputs.

Some studies suggest that the increasing automation will inevitably result in “job polarisation” eroding middle ground jobs and leading to a greater economic disparity between highly skilled jobs and low-skilled jobs which are too expensive to automate. What is more, the introduction of new technologies at the workplace will significantly alter the content and the organization of work, affecting working conditions, remuneration and hierarchies. Interacting with AI redefines skills and employees’ roles – and consequently this transformation needs to be shaped by political agents, trade unions, and worker activism.

In this summer school we aim to explore upcoming research questions related to the emerging impacts of artificial intelligence at workers. By convening senior researchers and findings from ongoing PhD research we want to deepen our understanding about the methods to explore the empirical relevance and specifics of the phenomenon. We also want to situate individual research projects within the broader research agenda on the AI-based worker management and human-centred AI in the workplace.