Making the Future Work - AI Fringe Summit on the Future of Work

While discussions at Bletchley focus on the future ephemeral ‘x-risk’ of ‘god-like’ AI, at this 'Making the Future Work' summit we will be grounding debate in the here-and-now of how work is being transformed and working lives impacted.

We are convening a rich and diverse set of voices and interdisciplinary research to sessions on regulation, creative industries, health and wellbeing and what policies a future of good work requires.

Use the Slido page for Q&A, and to offer action-response during each session.

Live Stream will be available here.

Agenda

0900 – 0930 Registration, tea, coffee and pastries

0930 – 0940 Welcome & opening remarks - Anna Thomas, Co-Founder and Director, IFOW

0940 – 1035 Session 1: Where the Future is Now

With great fanfare, at Bletchley Park world leaders, AI industry figures and security experts are gathering to discuss ‘Frontier AI’ and the ‘x-risks’ that these pose. These future risks of ‘god-like’ General Artificial Intelligence are real, but existing algorithmic and automation systems are already changing work – and the experience of it – for people right now. In this session, we will look at the current landscape, the gaps in governance and regulation, the challenges that these are presenting to workers and employers, and what research is telling us about the UK labour market and the state of automation and AI across it.

Speakers: 

• Professor Gina Neff, Executive Director of the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy at the University of Cambridge (moderator)
• Professor Philip McCann, Chair of Urban and Regional Economics, Alliance Manchester Business School
• ProfessorJolene Skordis, UCL Centre for Global Health Economics
• Professor Sana Khareghani, former Head of the UK Government Office for AI
• Dr Wilson Wong, Head of Futures at CIPD

1040 – 1130 Session 2: ‘Open’ AI? Regulation for the Common Good

The pressing question of how AI can, or should, be regulated, is facing governments and policymakers across the world. But the issues faced by workplaces and sectors across the world are real and immediate, and - with algorithmic management spreading via ‘gigification’ from platform work across the labour market - the time we have to start addressing these issues is limited. In this session we will explore what can be done in the arena of the workplace, what governance and regulatory challenges need to be addressed, in order to ensure that the adoption of automation and AI technologies serves the common good.

Speakers: 

• Oliver Pickup, award-winning journalist (moderator)
• Rebecca Thomas, Head of Employment Policy, Equality and HumanRights Commission
• Dr Florian Ostmann, Head of AI Governance and RegulatoryInnovation, Alan Turing Institute
• Dr Abigail Gilbert, Director, Institute for the Future of Work
• Siddhant Chatterjee, Policy and Governance Strategist, Holistic AI

‍1130 – 1145 Action Response /Coffee Break

1145 – 1155 APPG on the Future of Work – Invitation from Matt Warman MP to continue conversations. The next meeting of the APPG is on 15^th November, 4pm. Reserve a ticket here.

1200 – 1250 – Panel Discussions, with an increased focus on audience discussion

‍Panel Option 3a – SectorFocus: the UK Creative Industries

The UK’s creative sector is a key powerhouse of the UK economy. But - as evidenced by the recent Hollywood writers’ strike – an industry previously thought protected from the influence of AI as a result of its assumed dependence on human creativity, is now feeling the pressure from regenerative systems. In this session, we will hear from across the creative sector about these impacts and pressures, and seek to understand what previously overlooked risks and mitigations might follow from the adoption of AI technologies.

Speakers: 

• Dr Mike Katell – Alan Turing Institute (moderator)
• LindenWalcott-Burton FRSA, Culture Policy Officer - Culture and Creative IndustriesStrategy Team, Greater London Authority
• Shobana Iyer, Barrister at Swan Chambers specialising in technology, media and communications
• Laurence Bouvard, actor and voice artist, and computer scientist
• Naomi Pohl, General Secretary, Musicians’ Union

Panel Option 3b –Sector Focus: Health and Wellbeing

AI has long promised to revolutionise the healthcare sector, but – with issues like increased work intensity - is having health and wellbeing impacts on workers. Much has been said about how AI’s potential for novel drug creation and diagnosis, automation of surgery and data management, could potentially revolutionise the way the NHS workforce is able to operate, and indeed how the NHS as a whole is able to function. But what challenges does the NHS face in adopting and adapting to these technologies, and what broader considerations need to be made regarding the wider health and wellbeing impacts that these technologies and systems might present?

Speakers: 

• Mark Franks, Nuffield Foundation (moderator)
• Ben Jupp, Director of Strategy, NHS England
• Robin Carpenter, AI Ethics and Governance Lead, AI Centre for Value-Based Healthcare, Kings College London
• Professor Jolene Skordis, UCL Centre for Global Health Economics
• Professor Phoebe Moore, Professor of Management and the Futures of Work, University of Essex and author of The Quantified Worker
• Kathy Dalley, intensive care nurse and teacher at St George’s Hospital, clinical adviser to the Nursing & Midwifery Council.

1250 – 1325 Lunch / Action Response (use Slido code #1714449)

1330 – 1420– Engagement focus, with an increased focus on audience discussion

Panel Option 4a – Centring the Human, Listening to Communities

The evidence produced by successive research continues to show that the greatest benefit can be derived from AI technologies, when those closest to the use and impact of the technology are involved in its design, development and deployment. But what are the challenges faced in terms of delivering mechanisms and processes through which firms and organisations can engage workers and local communities, to offer their concerns and expertise throughout the process of designing, developing, and deploying these systems?

Speakers: 

• Reema Patel (moderator)
• Dr Abigail Gilbert, IFOW
• Andrew Pakes, Prospect Union
• Luke Elgar, Communication Workers Union
• Jeni Tennison, Connected by Data

Panel Option 4b –Reframing Skills

The adoption of AI technologies and automation has caused a shift in the skills that workers across the country need, in order to meet employers changing workforce needs. How can organisations, and in particular workers respond to this shift in skills gaps, and how can the UK skills shortage not just be solved, but lead to improvements in job quality for the workers that feel these shifts in technology usage most acutely?

Speakers: 

• Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE (moderator)
• Professor Sue Black, Durham
• Helen Milner, Good Things Foundation
• Dr Magdalena Soffia, IFOW
• Dr Wilson Wong, Head of Futures, CIPD

14.20– 14.40 Action Response / Coffee Break

1440 –1530 – Panel 5 – Making the Future Work

Drawing together all that we’ve covered during the day, what are the immediate priorities for governance and regulation of AI and algorithmic systems that will deliver on a future of good work? What policies should be prioritised, and what forms of action are needed by organisations, communities and workers to make sure that innovation and social good advance together?

Speakers: 

• Anna Thomas (moderator)
• Professor David Leslie, Director of Ethics and Responsible Innovation Research, The Alan Turing Institute
• Andrew Pakes, Prospect Union
• Ivanna Bartoletti, Global Chief Privacy Officer at Wipro andVisiting Cybersecurity and Privacy Executive Fellow at Pamplin Business School, Virginia Tech

15.30-15.45 - Closing Remarks – an invitation to continue collaborations and conversations to deliver a future of good work – Anna Thomas

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