In the age of the smart artificial intelligence: AI’s dual capacities for automating and informating work

Abstract

Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have generated tidal waves, which are shaking the foundation of organizations and businesses. Even though AI is considered an unprecedented disruptive force for work automation, much can be learned from current research on the computerization of work. Drawing on the seminal work of Shoshana Zuboff, this article provides a balanced perspective on the dual affordances of AI systems for automating and informating work. Whereas AI offers unique capacities for automating cognitive work that once required high-skill workers, it may be a source of unintended consequences such as cognitive complacency or de-skilling workers. To overcome such effects, the informating capacities of AI systems can be invoked to augment work, generate a more comprehensive perspective on organization, and finally equip workers with new sets of intellectual skills.