Work and Artificial Intelligence: the future is now
Dunia Astrologo - Scientific Committee Fondazione Istituto piemontese A. Gramsci
Published in MIT Sloan Management Review - January/February 2023 - Year 2 - Number 1
In our technologically advanced society, progress seems to imbue material forces with a semblance of spiritual life while impoverishing human life by reducing it to a material force. In public places, such as trains and buses, people are often immersed in their electronic devices, completely ignoring the existence of those around them. At home, we interact with virtual assistants such as Alexa, robot vacuum cleaners, and household appliances connected to our smartphones, creating an environment where objects seem almost animated.
In factories, the presence of robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and advanced software is rapidly increasing. Over the past 30 years, the number of robots worldwide has quadrupled, reaching approximately three million units.
The use of Digital Twins is revolutionizing the control and optimization of physical entities, processes, and even human characteristics. These tools enhance design, control, and maintenance capabilities by creating a virtual counterpart to physical entities. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Digital Twin is a digital machine or model that mirrors the life of a physical entity, enabling a two-way relationship between the digital and physical twin. This technology is also expanding into logistics, medicine, and distribution, further enhancing design, control, and maintenance processes.
Artificial intelligence (AI), powered by vast datasets and sophisticated algorithms, is transforming various fields, from text generation to image recognition and natural language processing. Advanced systems such as Microsoft's VALL-E and OpenAI's ChatGPT-3 demonstrate remarkable progress in these areas. The increasing integration of AI blurs the line between real and virtual, leading to a new form of existence termed onlife, where digital and physical realities converge. Through deep learning and self-learning capabilities, AI is increasingly able to process billions of data points from various sensory sources, producing astonishing results across multiple domains.
The concept of the Metaverse—a virtual world where individuals can lead parallel lives—is gaining traction in industries ranging from fashion to manufacturing. Companies such as General Electric, Tesla, and Boeing are exploring the use of digital twins within the Metaverse, enhancing predictive capabilities and driving innovation. The development and application of digital twins in 3D environments offer exciting possibilities, such as improving predictions of potential state changes, fostering creativity, and enabling unprecedented flexibility.
However, the rapid advancement of AI also brings significant risks. These include energy consumption, privacy breaches, the creation of deep fakes, and potential misuse for social control. The impact on employment is profound, as AI could reduce jobs in certain sectors while increasing demand for highly skilled workers. Such shifts may exacerbate social inequalities and transform the nature of work, making it more virtual and less socially engaging. The literature extensively discusses these risks, including concerns over AI’s environmental impact, invasion of privacy, and threats to security and democracy due to excessive social control.
To address these challenges, governments, businesses, and individuals must take proactive steps. Governments should invest in digital education, promote technological research, and establish ethical AI regulations. Companies should create work environments that prioritize employee well-being, foster inclusivity, and develop the professional skills of their workforce. The ultimate goal of technological progress should be to redistribute resources and working hours, freeing humanity from necessity and advancing towards liberation from labor. Preparing for the changes that technological progress brings requires advocating for a new social model that prioritizes cooperation, enabling more balanced and sustainable global development.
The real political challenge of the immediate future will be to prevent the world from becoming an alienating system. Governments must make substantial investments in digital education and technological research, establish ethical and democratic regulations for AI, and implement innovative welfare models. Companies need to build more inclusive organizations capable of fostering cooperation, enhancing knowledge, and maximizing potential. Interconnection, virtualization, and human-machine interaction should become tools for humanizing the workplace, not threats. Redistributing resources and working time is essential to liberate humanity from necessity and propel it toward freedom.
Today, the rise of agile work has already introduced a sense of estrangement that poses significant psychological challenges. Adapting organizational models to accommodate physical non-presence in a common workplace has complicated task delegation and the resolution of new problems, such as cybersecurity and space-time management. New managerial challenges are emerging, and additional social and ethical issues will arise if work becomes predominantly virtual. This could lead to extreme polarization between well-paid super-specialists and a mass of precarious neo-proletarians controlled by intelligent platforms designed by the former.
The very concept of productive organization is undergoing radical transformation, amplifying existing inequalities. Human labor risks losing its social centrality, leading to a pronounced division: on one side, globally connected super-skilled professionals; on the other, a devalued, precarious workforce. Between these groups lies a marginalized population supported by welfare systems.
In this context, preventing the world from devolving into an alienating info-system is the core political challenge. Governments must prioritize digital education, foster technological innovation, enforce ethical AI regulations, and establish robust social security frameworks. Companies must become more inclusive, cooperative, and focused on improving workers' welfare. Interconnectedness and virtualization must be reframed as opportunities to humanize work rather than as threats to its essence.
Ultimately, technological development must aim to redistribute resources and working time, freeing humanity from necessity and enabling a shift toward true freedom. We must prepare for these changes and strive for a new social model that eliminates the divide between productive and non-productive work, placing cooperation at the forefront of a balanced and sustainable global development.
