Call for Papers – Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work

The Journal of Ethics would like to devote a Special Issue to the future of work in the age of Artificial Intelligence. In its technical sense, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a term covering any technique designed to solve problems traditionally assigned to human intelligence (think of computer-driven cars). In a broader, socio-technical sense, AI is a new system reshaping models of production and employment, and power relations more generally (think of Google’s or Amazon’s data-driven business models) (Crawford 2021). Recent developments in AI have raised the question of its possible impact on the level and quality of employment, and a lot of attention has been devoted to predictions about the number of jobs that will be replaced (Brynjolfsson and MacAfee 2014; Frey and Osborne 2017; Ford 2015; Willcocks 2020).

Taking a more philosophical and normative perspective, this Special Issue aims to investigate concepts and ideas needed to understand the transition to AI-mediated work, and to govern it in the interest of the (work) communities and society at large. (Santoni de Sio et al. 2021)

Submissions are encouraged from a theoretical, as well as a more applied or interdisciplinary perspective (e.g. in connection with engineering, political economy, social sciences). However, given the nature of the journal, each paper should have a relevant and recognizable philosophical component.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • How should we rethink work and capital in AI-mediated work?
  • To what extent can AI affect the structures of power at work, and how should this be addressed?
  • How should we rethink freedom, justice, dignity in AI-mediated work?
  • Under which conditions can the collaboration between human and artificial intelligence at work promote wellbeing and human flourishing?
  • How can feminist or care ethics perspectives help understand and govern the transition to AI-mediated work?
  • How can non-Western ethical and philosophical approaches help understand and govern the transition to AI-mediated work?
  • What does it take for work to be meaningful in the age of AI?
  • What does it take to responsibly govern the transition to AI-mediated work?
  • To what extent can Universal Basic Income help address the issue of AI-induced technological unemployment?
  • How should (specific) AI be designed to promote specific human values (in specific domains)?

Editor: Filippo Santoni de Sio, Delft University of Technology

Link: https://www.springer.com/journal/10892/updates/20023654

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