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Announcements made at the Global Forum for AI and the Social Sciences bring together new research, data, funding, and initiatives on AI and labour markets

Wednesday 16 September 2026
Announcements image

15 organisations taking part in the London School of Economics and Political Science’s (LSE) 2026 Global Forum for AI and the Social Sciences, taking place today and tomorrow (Wednesday 16 and Thursday 17 September 2026), announce a series of new research projects, datasets, collaborations and funding commitments related to the inaugural Global Forum’s theme: how AI is reshaping work and what governments, firms, and workers must do to prepare for the changes ahead.

The announcements include funding for new research, novel approaches to measuring AI adoption and its labour market effects, research on workers’ experiences of technological change, collaborations across Africa and Latin America, and the public release of novel datasets intended to support research on this topic.

They form part of the London School of Economics and Political Science’s 2026 Global Forum for AI and the Social Sciences, organised by the LSE Data Science Institute (DSI). The Global Forum convenes international dialogue at the intersection of AI and the social sciences and mobilises expertise, resources, and partnerships to build momentum toward a shared international agenda for understanding AI’s labour market impacts and evaluating possible public policy responses.

Helen Margetts, Director of the Data Science Institute, said:

"We’re delighted that organisations from around the world are announcing new funding, resources, projects and publications that will enable much-needed progress and enhance our collective capacity to understand and address AI’s impacts on jobs and labour markets.

A key aspect of the Global Forum’s mission is to go beyond the exchange of existing knowledge and focus on concrete steps that act as catalysts for closing knowledge gaps and enabling new forms of collaboration. Each of these announcements represents an important contribution to the mission.”

The announcements are:

  • Researchers at Cohere Labs release the Agentic Task Ecosystem, a dataset of nearly 700,000 AI agent tools collected from public Model Context Protocol servers. The dataset is intended to support research into AI and the future of work by providing evidence on the tools being developed to enable AI agents to undertake work tasks.
  • A coalition of intergovernmental government organisations and AI companies is developing a new Global AI Adoption Index. Facilitated by the Development Data Partnership, the Global AI Adoption Index is a joint initiative of intergovernmental organisations, including the World Bank Group, IMF, and OECD, and leading tech companies including Anthropic, GitHub, Google, LinkedIn, Meta, Microsoft, OpenRouter, Ookla, and OpenAI. It will use privacy-protected company data to give the world its first harmonised picture of AI adoption globally.
  • The International Monetary Fund announces an AI Economy Data Hub. The Hub – to be launched this autumn – will bring together more than 100 indicators from open data sources, covering AI adoption and maturity, labour market effects, infrastructure development and investment activity.
  • OpenResearch releases a public-use dataset from its Unconditional Cash Study, the most comprehensive study of unconditional cash in the United States to date. The release turns a rich longitudinal study into a shared resource that can support new questions and research about economic security, family life, work, health, and wellbeing.
  • Windfall Trust previews the Windfall AI Observatory Map, a resource being developed to track countries’ exposure to AI-driven economic disruption and their capacity to respond. The Observatory is being developed initially for more than 30 countries. A United Kingdom case study is being shared at the Global Forum ahead of the Map’s planned public release later in 2026.

  • The Resolution Foundation announces a new Economic and Social Research Council-funded project, Measuring AI’s Impact on the UK Labour Market: New Tools and Evidence. Conducted with the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Institute of Directors, the British Chambers of Commerce, and the Burning Glass Institute, the project will develop and pilot first-of-their-kind tools to measure AI’s labour market impacts.
  • The LSE International Inequalities Institute announces a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean that covers research collaboration and knowledge exchange on social development, inequality, income distribution, growth and other areas of sustainable development. Its first project will examine AI’s effects on the quantity and quality of jobs in Latin America. The Institute also launches a research theme on AI and labour market inequalities that will examine how AI is affecting labour markets, tax revenues, public services and different groups of workers.
  • The Artificial Intelligence for Development programme, jointly supported by Canada’s International Development Research Centre and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Global Research and Technology Development portfolio, launches the African Growth and AI Network. This four-year, pan-African research initiative will bring together researchers and institutions across several countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana.
  • Qatar Foundation’s AI Hub opens a call for collaboration on AI and work across the Global Majority. The call forms part of The Next Wave, a research programme developing a methodology for measuring AI’s effects on employment, occupations and wages in economies where such measurement does not currently exist.

Four publications released to coincide with the Global Forum examine how AI is being adopted, governed, and experienced across economies and workplaces.

The publications are:

  • The Adaptation Gap | LinkedIn Economic Graph Research Institute
  • An Analysis of National AI Strategies in Africa | Global Center on AI Governance, African Observatory on Responsible AI, IDRC Canada, FCDO
  • Mapping the Missing Middle in the AI Workforce: Facilitators and their role in AI adoption | The AI Adoption Initiative, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Regulating AI through Collective Bargaining: key issues and country case studies | European Trade Union Institute