Working Group on the Future of Work

The GPAI Future of Work (FoW) Working Group’s mandate and scope are to:

• Conduct critical technical analysis on how the deployment of AI can affect workers and working environments as well as how workers and employers can better design the future of work.
• Address how AI can be used in the workplace to empower workers, how employers and workers can prepare for the future of work, and how job quality, inclusiveness, and health & safety can be preserved or even improved.
• Include a focus on the education and training needed to prepare the future workforce.

Current projects

The Working Group on the Future of Work is pursuing the following projects in 2024:

• Generative AI and the future of work global dialogue: Perceptions and prospects
• Impact of generative AI on the labor market in South America
• Generative AI’s transformative effect on professions: the case of medical practitioners in Europe, Africa, and Asia
• The humans behind AI: Working conditions of workers in the AI data pipeline
• AI literacy curriculum for workers of SMEs in India
• AI Empowerment: Designing tools for workers in Japan and Mexico

ARCHIVE: GPAI expert reports

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***Disclaimer: These reports were planned before the integration of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in mid-2024. Consequently, the report was not subject to approval by GPAI and OECD members and should not be considered to reflect their positions.

GPAI expert reports

2024

  Fairwork Amazon Report 2024: Transformation of the Warehouse Sector through AI (June 2024)

2023

  Fairwork AI Ratings 2023 – The Workers Behind AI at Sama (December 2023)

As part of GPAI’s collaborative project with the Oxford Internet Institute, “AI for Fair Work”, GPAI Experts re-evaluated the OECD AI Principles, placing greater focus on the workplace, and applied them to two companies to study their practical implementation and effects. One such company was Sama, a data annotation firm in Kenya and Uganda. This report presents the impact of the revised AI Principles on Sama, highlighting the significant improvements their application brought to pay, working conditions, contracts, management and representation. In gathering empirical evidence of their use, Experts demonstrated measures that can be taken to ensure the security of workers in the AI supply chain and beyond.

  Future of Work Working Group Report (November 2023)

The Future of Work Expert Working Group (FoW EWG) examines the impact of AI on the workforce and its working environments. Its projects explore how inclusivity can be advanced in the face of automation while encouraging healthy collaboration with AI to ensure productivity and quality of outputs. In 2023, it concentrated its efforts on generative AI due to the uncertainty it brings to the job security of many workers. This report outlines its work on AI in the workplace to ensure that it empowers workers as well as consumers. 

  AI Observation Platform Report (November 2023)

Since its inauguration in 2021, this project aims to improve the future of those working alongside AI, with a particular focus on variables including disability, gender, and ethnicity. Through gathering use cases across several sectors, GPAI Experts capture shifts AI is causing in the workplace and gain insights into how it can be used to empower workers. This year, it was extended to include case studies from Japan and Mexico’s student communities, as well as LaborIA, France’s centre for the impact of AI on work, as outlined in this report.

  AI for Fair Work: From principles to practices (November 2023)

In partnership with Fairwork, an initiative of the Oxford Internet Institute, this project has re-assessed the OECD AI principles with a stronger emphasis on pay, working conditions, management, and representation. In applying them to two working environments (Amazon in the UK, and Sama, a data annotation firm in Kenya and Uganda), it has gathered empirical evidence of their practical use, which will be published in 2024. This report explores the methodology behind the project and highlights the multifaceted approach that must be taken to improving work in the face of AI. 

  CAST Constructive Approach to Smart Technologies (November 2023)

The growth of AI systems in terms of impact and complexity is making it increasingly challenging to draft frameworks that harness their potential for innovation while keeping up with their constant evolution. For AI vendors making the transition to the international market, it can be difficult to adapt to foreign demands. The CAST project proposes a model to accommodate software systems to such a fast-paced environment and navigate the nuances of constantly evolving levels of AI.

  Policy Brief: Generative AI, Jobs, and Policy Response (Montreal Innovation Workshop, September 2023)

2022

 Future of Work Working Group Report (November 2022)

 AI Living Lab Report (November 2022)

 AI Observation Platform Report (November 2022)

 AI for Fair Work Report (November 2022)

2021

 Future of Work Working Group Report (November 2021)

 AI Observatory at the Workplace (November 2021)

2020

 Future of Work Working Group Report (November 2020)

Our experts

Group contact point: GPAI Paris Centre of Expertise

Group participants

• Alexandre Shee, FoW WG co-chair
• Lucía Velasco, FoW WG co-chair
• Stefan Badža, Team for Special Projects at Office of the Prime Minister, Government of Serbia (Serbia)
• Janine Berg, International Labour Organization (Switzerland)
• Nicolas Blanc, CFE CGC National Secretary for Economic Transition (France)
• Callum Cant, ESSEX (United Kingdom)
• Arisa Ema, University of Tokyo (Japan)
• Paula Garnero, Secretariat of Public Innovation, Chief of Staff’s Office (Argentina)
• Jenny Grensman, Sveriges ingenjörer/The Swedish Association of Graduate Engineers (Sweden)
• Yuko Harayama, Tohoku University (Japan)
• Marek Havrda, AI Policy & Social Impact Director at GoodAI (Czech Republic)
• Rina Joosten, Seedlink Technologies (Netherlands)
• Johan Moesgaard Andersen, Danish Metal-Workers Union (Denmark)
• Matthias Peissner, Fraunhofer IAO (Germany)
• King-Wang Poon, Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at Singapore University of Technology and Design (Singapore)
• Fábio Porto, LNCC – National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (Brazil)
• Saiph Savage, Northeastern University & Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) (Mexico)
• Fernando Schapachnik, Dept. of Computer Science, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires and Fundación Sadosky (Argentina)
• Suleyman Serdar Kozat, Bilkent University (Türkiye)
• Basheerhamad Shadrach, CEMCA; Commonwealth of Learning (India)
• Maya Sherman, American India Foundation (Israel)
• Boris Stokalski-Dzierzykraj, VersaBox and RETHINK (Poland)
• Tomasz Trzciński, Tooplox, IDEAS NCBR, Warsaw University of Technology (Poland)
• Risto Uuk, Future of Life Institute (Estonia)
• Kyoko Yoshinaga, Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University (Japan)

Observer

• Stijn Broecke, OECD

External experts

• Norma Elva Chávez, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) (Mexico)
• Yann Ferguson, Inria (France)
• Mark Graham, Oxford Internet Institute (United Kingdom)
• Mark Levels, Maastricht University (Netherland)
• Aditya Mohan, National Standards Authority of Ireland (Ireland)
• Andrea Renda, Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (Belgium)
• Funda Ustek Spilda, Oxford Internet Institute (United Kingdom)