Future of Work Initiative

So we will continue to focus on two critical questions: What is the future of work that we want? And how do we chart a path to get there?

Much of the talk about the future of work fails to acknowledge what that future means for workers — and the critical need for employees to be able to shape that future.

But if we fail to proactively design the world we aspire to live in, other forces will design it for us, and we may not like the world we end up in. 

Like so much of our culture, the word “gig” comes to us via New Orleans jazz… Far more people have turned to gig work than most people realize. By one estimate, 36% of adults in the U.S. are currently earning or have at one point earned on an app-based platform.

That vision should also include a more democratic, worker-led approach to how we use technology and how it impacts our communities. What might it mean over the next few years for technology policy and labor activists to work toward that?

How will artificial intelligence (AI) impact the workplace? To answer that, we must have a much clearer sense of what AI is… AI models built on workers’ productivity data will make better tools as they will reflect workers’ shared rather than individual labor.

While AI holds great promise for improving productivity and economic growth, it will require careful management, trust-building, and a focus on the human aspects of work to ensure a positive and inclusive future.

What will retirement look like in the future and what does it mean for the future of work?