The Future of Work

At the Academy, Tyson will continue research into how automation and artificial intelligence are affecting the future of work. Automation and AI, she notes, like previous technological advances, will continue to fuel displacement of labor and opportunity, but they will also contribute to gains in productivity, income growth, and the demand for skilled human labor. The transition, however, will be both difficult and costly and is likely to fuel growing income inequality. New policies, training, and entrepreneurship will be required to address a range of unprecedented challenges. Tyson is looking to governments, businesses, labor organizations, and civil society to shape outcomes and cushion this pivotal transition of work. Tyson sees Germany as particularly well positioned to handle the economic trials ahead and to shape the economic opportunities that accompany them. She plans to investigate German systems of training and apprenticeships, various sectors of German industry, and the unique features of German business governance—works councils, employers’ associations, and supervisory boards. She will also look at the pace and magnitude of changes in employment levels, wages, work hours, and other labor conditions that arise in response to automation. The German case, Tyson argues, can show that the ultimate effects of automation and artificial intelligence on work and society are not technologically predetermined; rather, they can be shaped by thoughtful policies and actions taken by business leaders, policymakers, workers, and citizens. “Ultimately, these effects depend not on the design of smart machines and technologies,” she writes, “but on the design of smart practices and policies appropriate for the new machine age.”