As employers integrate generative AI into workplaces, the application of these technologies can obscure how they enable new dynamics of extraction, devalue human labor, and build on older practices of algorithmic control. Events like the 2023 SAG-AFTRA/WGA strikes, where screenwriters and actors sought to secure a baseline of protections around the use of generative AI, highlight how human labor is often devalued and reduced to data that can be extracted from workers. But while much media attention has focused on “creative” and entertainment industries, the impacts of generative AI have been felt across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, education, retail, the public sector, and more. Labor unions, worker organizations, and workers themselves have begun to grapple not only with displacement but with fundamental shifts in how they experience their workplaces.

At the center of these issues is the question of value. Generative AI models that power applications like ChatGPT, MidJourney, and Copilot are marketed as the next revolution in work automation: intelligent and creative, capable of producing compelling stories, effective code, and hyper-realistic artwork that mimics human creativity in a fraction of the time and expense. This has led to a variety of economic predictions, ranging from the potential of mass job losses to the possibility of huge economic and social gains.  

But AI is not just about displacement, nor is it just about “augmentation” of work. There is an urgent need to understand the uneven effects of these technologies across industries and on a broad diversity of workers, particularly as arbitrarily constructed divides about what is valuable and who is doing valuable work informs our understanding of the future. This workshop will create a space for differing perspectives on what it means to labor as technology companies seek to replicate workers’ practice, knowledge, and expertise. Together, we hope to expand our collective thinking and engage a cohort of researchers and practitioners debating similar questions. 

Questions that could be explored in this workshop include:

1. Agency, value and expertise: What qualities determine the inherent value or merit of a worker in today’s labor market? How does AI influence how expertise is perceived? How is AI reshaping the skill sets required of workers? What does this look like for different occupations? 
2. Data extraction and control: Who gets to determine the value of work and how people do their jobs? How are tech companies and government regulators shaping ideas about what AI can and should do? Who profits from mass data collection? What can we do to address the lack of transparency around how AI systems are used in our workplaces? 
3. Power and hierarchy: How is AI reinforcing existing power imbalances and hierarchical structures for workers from marginalized groups, particularly regarding gender, race, ability, and geography?  Who benefits from AI, and whose labor is rendered invisible?
4. Ethics, rights and resistance: As we respond to AI’s labor impacts, how do we move the conversation beyond merely macro-economic calculations and calls for harm reduction? How should we develop new frameworks (legal, regulatory, etc) to protect worker rights when reckoning with AI?

We welcome submissions from individuals or teams representing diverse sectors, scholarly backgrounds, and methodological approaches. We will prioritize projects that center workers and practice. This can include projects that challenge dominant narratives and offer novel theoretical and grounded perspectives; that center the experiences of workers across many disciplines, categorizations, geographies, and statuses; and that support collaboration, cooperation and skills and idea sharing.

For scholarly submissions, we encourage interdisciplinary contributions from fields including sociology, labor studies, communication, economics, policy, management, computer science, history, Black studies/ethnic studies, American studies, gender studies, and urban studies. The goal of this event is not to present largely finished work but to truly workshop work in progress. Submissions should be at a stage that will benefit from substantive feedback.

Participation requirements 

Session lead/presenter: For applicants seeking to submit a project for a feedback session, we are looking for one of two proposal types: 

• Paper sessions: Applicants may submit a draft paper, such as a journal article, report, essay, dissertation chapter, or other written material. Session leads will be expected to listen and ask questions, while a designated discussant/collaborator will guide the conversation. 
• Hands-on sessions: These practice-oriented sessions can be used to solicit feedback on a particular challenge, methodology, policy approach, storytelling or creative expression, or case study. Session leads will be expected to offer a short presentation to frame the discussion, and may also choose the format of discussion, e.g. open-ended discussion or guided activity.   

If selected, paper session drafts are expected to be 5-15 pages, and hands-on sessions will be 60-75 minutes. In addition to their particular session, session leads are expected to participate in up to two other sessions during the course of the workshop.

Collaborator: For applicants not submitting a session proposal, attendees will be given the opportunity to participate in a combination of paper and hands-on sessions. 

• Collaborators are expected to actively participate in workshop sessions. It is an opportunity to engage each other substantively and from cross-disciplinary perspectives. All participants are required to engage with up to three projects in advance of the event and come ready to offer constructive feedback. Collaborators may be asked to be a discussant for a paper session or a facilitator for a hands-on session.

The event will take place over two days to make it easier for participants from different time zones to attend all the sessions and to account for video conferencing fatigue. Multiple breakout groups will run in parallel during three project workshop sessions, so while up to 18 projects will be selected, each participant will only be responsible for joining up to three.

Logistics

On May 1, we’ll host a public keynote via Zoom. The workshop itself will take place via Zoom on May 8 and 9, 2025 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET. Depending on participant time zones, select sessions may be rescheduled outside of this time slot. Participants are expected to attend the full workshop. Eligible participants can request a $150 USD stipend.

If you are interested in attending, please submit the following information via this form:

• Name, email address, affiliation, title, career stage, disciplines and/or areas of interest, time zone, pronouns (optional).
• Bio or link to work, and social media handle (optional)
• For session leads: a brief submission (500 words or less, or 3 minutes or less of audio or video) describing your in-progress project and how it relates to the workshop themes. Give us a sense of what stage of development your project is at, any planned methodologies and formats, and how this workshop can be helpful for you and your work. 
• For collaborators: a brief submission (250 words or less or 2 minutes or less of audio or video) describing your interest and goals for participation. What would make you a great contributor to shaping in-progress projects that explore the intersections of generative AI technologies and work?
• Optional: Link to one project or writing (yours or others) that everyone interested in this domain should know about.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions.

Application deadline: Friday, February 7, 2025 

Selection notifications: Monday, February 24, 2025

RSVP: Friday, March 7, 2025 

Session lead drafts deadline: Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Workshop projects and program circulation: Week of April 14, 2025 

Public keynote: Thursday, May 1, 2025

Workshop: Thursday – Friday, May 8-9, 2025

This workshop is organized by the Labor Futures team of Aiha Nguyen, Alexandra Mateescu, and Anuli Akanegbu, and produced by CJ Brody Landow and Siera Dissmore. Additional support is provided by Data & Society’s Raw Materials Seminar, communications, engagement, and accounting teams.