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This past week, IFOW has been actively sharing insights from our Nuffield Foundation-funded Pissarides Review in Paris, London and Oslo.
The Paris AI Action Summit
At the Paris summit, members of our core team attended sessions exploring the future of work, the responsible adoption of AI and setting up a new global network of AI labs. For the first time - as encouraged by IFOW at the inaugural Bletchley event in late 2023 – the summit had a dedicated Work and AI strand. This considered automation, the labour market and impacts and job quality and wellbeing and - as attendees considered whether self-regulation was really enough - the importance of responsible innovation, good governance and social dialogue to shape good, trusted automation and AI adoption became increasingly clear.
This aligns closely with the Pissarides Review’s findings and should, we hope, make them useful in the UK, as well as as a model for progressive policy worldwide. Good work and good automation are now recognised as goals and bridges which cross divides of global AI Action.
At IFOW, we look forward to working closely with DSIT and other departments to support this agenda and help navigate the challenges and opportunities that AI brings to the workplace with clearer, actionable outputs.
The AI Fringe
Meanwhile, at the AI Fringe in London, IFOW hosted a session in the main auditorium on ‘Making the Future Work: Getting Workplace AI Right’, with a stellar panel of academics from the Review joined by Mary Towers from the TUCand Amy Bird – Director of Employment at Clifford Chance. This was a rich and engaging discussion centred on the importance of engaging workers in processes of technology adoption and fostering the human-centred approach that the Review shows is so vital.
We were also delighted to be able to have our Associate Director, Kester Brewin, chair a packed second session - Supporting Creative Futures in arts, culture and AI – which featured ex Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Thangam Debbonaire. This was connected to the BRAID-funded CREAATIF project we have been running in partnership with the Turing Institute and QMUL on the impacts of AI on the creative sector – a powerhouse of the UK economy, but one at particular risk from generative AI systems.
Oslo
Finally, at the end of a packed week, we have also been at the first ever Nordic AI Summit, discussing how the Nordic Model of social dialogue can be protected through this new technological revolution. Our Co-Director, Abby, gave a presentation explaining the potential role for unions in meeting the requirement under the EUAI Act to operate Sandbox environments, and harnessing worker insight to give feedback on the scope and limits of the regulation.
These events have reaffirmed our commitment to the widest engagement to disseminate the rich findings of the Pissarides Review to policymakers, businesses and civil society. As we continue to share and build on these insights, the message is clear: through collaboration and dialogue, we can help build a fairer future of better work, where innovation and social good advance together.
Alongside the Final Report, we have now published an Executive Summary of our Nuffield Foundation-funded Pissarides Review - a precis of the key findings and recommendations, designed for policymakers.
Through a new social and economic paradigm of good work, the Review proposes a new model of human-centred automation and AI adoption, a comprehensive socio-technical approach that understands technological transformation as highly interconnected, and interdependent with socio-economic change. We are delighted with the hugely positive reception that the work has received so far, and look forward to working closely with policymakers on how its findings and recommendations can be operationalised.
Discover how digital and AI technologies are reshaping labour, governance, and worker agency in this event hosted by Technologies at Work, a research network fostering interdisciplinary dialogue. Scholars, policymakers, and activists will explore the challenges and opportunities of fair labour practices and AI regulations.
Register here.
Wolfram is hosting the second edition of its roundtable event in central London, focusing on how Generative AI can enhance efficiency through automation and uncover new opportunities in your data.
Register here.
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Anna Thomas MBE
