Anticipating artificial intelligence: how workers strive to reshape the future of work

Join our Organisational Theory and Information Systems seminar

Speaker: Dr Hatim A Rahman, Northwestern University

About the seminar topic

Existing research suggests that when new technologies do not serve workers’ interests, they react by ‘gaming’ the system, devising workarounds, or engaging in more overt resistance. Much of this research explores workers’ reactions once they are directly confronted with the consequences of such technology. However, given that much of the discourse on new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) includes speculations about the future, we need a better understanding of how workers anticipate and prepare for the implications of new workplace technologies. Drawing on qualitative data, spanning 4 years and multiple organisations, our study examines collective worker efforts to anticipate and reshape the potential implications of AI in the workplace. While workers viewed AI technologies as a possible threat, we did not find that their responses were focused on resistance as current literature would suggest. Instead, we uncover 4 future-making activities workers engage in: building capacity, shaping narratives, anticipatory experimenting and setting guardrails. Leveraging insights from the future-making literature, we theorise how workers engage in these activities in a cumulative effort to steer new AI technologies towards desirable futurescapes that provide workers beneficial outcomes in the long term.

Speaker bio

Hatim A Rahman is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations and Sociology (by courtesy) at Northwestern University. His research investigates how artificial intelligence is impacting the nature of work and employment relationships in organisations and labour markets. His research and teaching have received numerous awards, including the National Science Foundation CAREER award. In 2023, he was named as one of the best 40 business school professors under 40 years of age by Poets & Quants.

Professor Rahman’s research has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Academy of Management Annals, and Academy of Management Discoveries. These articles have been recognised for both their theoretical and empirical impact by the National Science Foundation, Academy of Management, Responsible Research for Business and Management, Labor and Employment Relations Association, Thinkers50, Financial Times, Industry Studies Association, International Labour and Employment Relations Association, Psychology of Technology Institute, and International Conference on Information Systems.

His research and teaching have also received coverage from a variety of news sources including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, Forbes, Bloomberg, CNBC, Newsweek, Business Insider, Wired, Slate, Fast Company, Inc., Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), CBS: Chicago, Kellogg Insights, Stanford News, The Hill, Work in Progress, and Organizational Musings.

Prior to joining Northwestern, Professor Rahman received his PhD and Masters in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and his BS in Business Administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Register

No registration required. If you have any questions about this seminar, please email Luke Slater.