The labour question now has emerging empirical evidence, but occupational exposure is not the same as observed displacement.
Automation & Labor
The future of work and displacement
When AI changes a job, who gets the productivity and who absorbs the transition?
Students move from job-loss forecasts to task evidence, entry-level pathways, algorithmic management, bargaining power, deskilling, and the distribution of productivity gains.
Join the live roomBefore class
Decompose one role into tasks and mark which are automated, augmented, created, or made more valuable by AI.
After class
Draft five enforceable clauses for a worker AI charter, including monitoring, explanation, appeal, training, and gain-sharing.
The promise
By the end of this room…
- 01Separate task exposure, job transformation, displacement, and creation.
- 02Evaluate labour evidence without turning a forecast into a fact.
- 03Analyze algorithmic management as a power and information system.
- 04Design transition duties for firms, institutions, and governments.
Why this week now
Signals, not scene-setting.
Entry-level work is both a cost center and a learning infrastructure; automating it changes career formation.
Algorithmic management can expand surveillance and control even when no job is fully automated.
Run of show
Provoke → frame → work → argue → synthesize.
- 0:00provocation
Commit before the concepts
If AI doubles a team's output, who has the strongest claim on the gain?
Live activity · week 8 opening - 0:15frame
From occupations to tasks
The labour question now has emerging empirical evidence, but occupational exposure is not the same as observed displacement.
- 0:45discussion
Reading tension
Student leaders present the assigned readings as a clash of defensible positions, then moderate questions that expose the hidden assumptions.
- 1:10frame
Power, transition, and algorithmic management
Entry-level work is both a cost center and a learning infrastructure; automating it changes career formation.
- 1:35break
Break
Ten minutes. Leave the room's unresolved question visible.
- 1:45forensics
Career-vulnerability simulation
Role-based groups work the anchor case through technical, legal, stakeholder, and normative lenses.
Deliverable · A two-minute finding with evidence, uncertainty, and an actionable remedy.Live activity · week 8 forensics - 2:25controversy
Worker-charter design negotiation
Assigned positions, side-switch, and a joint recommendation that names the value or stakeholder it leaves exposed.
Live activity · week 8 controversy - 2:50synthesis
Re-vote and leave a trace
Repeat the opening vote, inspect what moved, and submit the strongest argument you still reject.
Live activity · week 8 exit
Case room
Evidence before opinion.
Generative-AI occupational exposure
What does exposure measure—and what does it not predict?
Algorithmic management
Can a system improve efficiency while making work less autonomous and less contestable?
Reading stack
Read the tension, not the bibliography.
- 01CurrentGenerative AI and Jobs ↗
International Labour Organization
Evidence ledger
Every case has a receipt.
1 primary, scholarly, or first-party sources