Shaping the Work of the Future initiative set to bridge research and policy at MIT
February 2, 2024
With Goldman Sachs predicting that global investment in gen AI will reach $200 billion by 2025 and research finding that gen AI outperforms MBA students, it’s hard not to feel fatalistic.
A new research organization at MIT, Shaping the Work of the Future Initiative, aims to turn such fatalism into agency. Launched on Jan. 22 and led by some of MIT’s most influential economists, the new initiative will conduct research and guide policy at the intersection of technology and work.
The new initiative grows out of previous efforts at MIT—most notably, The Future of Work Task Force—to offer policy guidance as technology alters labor markets, placing new pressures on workers to reskill to remain employed.
At the initiative’s launch event, economist Daron Acemoglu, Co-Director of the initiative and Institute Professor at MIT, emphasized that a belief in human agency over technology will guide the initiative’s work.
“We believe that the future of work will matter for every aspect of our society,” said Acemoglu. “We also believe that there is nothing determinate or inexorable about the future of work.”
As he plotted an agenda for the initiative, Acemoglu added that, among its research foci, will be “what type of future work we can hope for in the shadow of AI.”
In addition to Acemoglu, MIT economists Simon Johnson and David Autor will serve as Co-Directors of the initiative.
Already, the initiative has made a sizeable body of research and policy statements publicly available, including testimony Acemoglu delivered at the US Senate’s AI Insight Forum in Nov., 2023—a sign of the initiative’s potential policy reach.
The new initiative has also already garnered the attention of major media outlets, which have optimistically depicted the initiative as proffering leadership on policy in the era of generative AI.
Generative AI appeared to loom over the initiative’s launch, providing a sense of urgency for policies that can prevent possible job loss and rising wealth inequality.
In closing remarks, Johnson, Co-Director of the Initiative, expressed concern over the future of work, though he was careful to clarify that he spoke on behalf of himself.
“My completely personal imagination of what comes next is a little bit darker and a little more urgent than what we just heard now,” said Johnson, referring to the final panel discussion at the launch. Johnson mentioned a company that, within 6 months, had replaced every ten employees who had MBAs with one.
We are working “on exactly those problems, on mobilizing people like yourselves, on pushing forward the research and linking that with policy, with as much urgency as the situation requires,” said Johnson. “And I think that urgency is pretty dramatic.”
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