What effect do robots, algorithms, and online platforms have on the world of work? Using case studies and examples from across the EU, the UK, and the US, this book provides a compass to navigate this technological transformation as well as the regulatory options available, and proposes a new map for the era of radical digital advancements.
From platform work to the gig-economy and the impact of artificial intelligence, algorithmic management, and digital surveillance on workplaces, technology has overwhelming consequences for everyone’s lives, reshaping the labour market and straining social institutions. Contrary to preliminary analyses forecasting the threat of human work obsolescence, the book demonstrates that digital tools are more likely to replace managerial roles and intensify organisational processes in workplaces, rather than opening the way for mass job displacement.
Can flexibility and protection be reconciled so that legal frameworks uphold innovation? How can we address the pervasive power of AI-enabled monitoring? How likely is it that the gig-economy model will emerge as a new organisational paradigm across sectors? And what can social partners and political players do to adopt effective regulation?
Technology is never neutral. It can and must be governed, to ensure that progress favours the many. Digital transformation can be an essential ally, from the warehouse to the office, but it must be tested in terms of social and political sustainability, not only through the lenses of economic convenience. Your Boss Is an Algorithm offers a guide to explore these new scenarios, their promises, and perils.
By:
Professor Antonio Aloisi,
Professor Dr Valerio De Stefano
Imprint: Hart Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9781509953189
ISBN 10: 1509953183
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 08 September 2022
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction 1. Navigating Uncharted Waters I. A Future Without Work? Raining on the ‘Full Automation’ Parade A. The ‘Robocalypse’ is Postponed to a Later Date II. The Digital is Political. Adopting a ‘Human in Command’ Approach 2. A Changing Labour Market I. The Consequences for the ‘Jobs that Remain’ II. Technology at Work A. Smart Robots, IoT and Manufacturing: Mind the Machines with Minds B. Remote Work, Out of Sight and Out of Place? Beyond the Pandemic Panopticon C. Selective Affinities: Matchmaking is the New Recruiting III. Work at the Service of Technology A. ‘People are Numbers’: Count or be Counted B. Working under the Algorithmic Boss C. Beating AI at its Own Game 3. Social Rights in the Digital Age I. What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Platform Work’ (And Why Do We Talk About it So Much?) II. ‘What is Mine is Yours’. Doublespeak and the Mythology of Sharing A. Workers on Tap and Untapped Appetites B. The Platform Paradigm, Rethinking the Master–Server Dialectic C. The European Way: Strengthening the Social Dimension Step by Step III. Labour Law between Obsolescence and Resistance A. Regulation, Flexibility and the ‘Spirit’ of Innovation B. Moving Towards a Universal Model of Protection for Modern Times? C. The Big Family of Non-Standard Forms of Employment Conclusions: A Job Well Done I. Future-Proof Labour Law A. Universal Basic Income, Radical Measures in Search of Sustainability B. Collective Voice versus Digital Despotism: Negotiating the Algorithm C. And They Lived Happily and Connected Ever after: Saving the Digital Transformation from Itself
Antonio Aloisi is Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow and Assistant Professor of European and Comparative Labour Law at IE Law School, Madrid, Spain. Valerio De Stefano is Canada Research Chair in Innovation, Law and Society, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada.
Reviews for Your Boss Is an Algorithm: Artificial Intelligence, Platform Work and Labour
Technology is fundamentally revolutionising the world of work - in this magisterial contribution, Aloisi and De Stefano traverse the impact of innovation on jobs, from the prospect of full automation to platform work and future-proofing labour law. It will be of great value to scholars and practitioners in law, labour market economics, and beyond. * Jeremias Adams-Prassl, Professor of Law, Oxford University, UK *
