Global Forum 2026: Programme
The Global Forum for AI and the Social Sciences 2026 | AI and Labour Markets
Watch event recordings and find information on all sessions and speakers across both days of the Global Forum 2026.
Day one | Wednesday 16 September
9.00am | Welcome and opening remarks
Speakers:
9.45am | OECD keynote: Mark Pearson
Speaker:
10.00am | ILO keynote: Caroline Fredrickson
Speaker:
11.00am | Technological revolutions and employment: Is AI different?
Speaker:
11.15am | AI's quantitative impacts on labour markets
This session focuses on the impacts of AI on labour markets from a quantitative perspective. It examines questions such as the exposure of different forms of human labour to AI-enabled automation, the emergence of new forms of labour, and the implications for aggregate employment. Bringing together recent LSE research and panellist perspectives, the session assesses the current state of evidence, identifies the most important gaps and areas of uncertainty, and considers the research and methodological innovations needed to improve our understanding of AI’s quantitative labour market impacts.
Speakers:
Chair:
12.15pm | In conversation: Helen Margetts and Fabien Curto Millet
Speakers:
1.30pm | Messy jobs: The work that AI cannot reach
Speaker:
1.45pm | AI's impacts on the quality of jobs
This session examines the implications of AI adoption for the conditions and experience of work. Bringing together recent LSE research and panellist perspectives, it considers relevant dimensions of job quality, takes stock of existing evidence on how AI may be affecting them, and identifies the most important open questions and priorities for future research in this area.
Speakers:
Chair:
3.15pm | National perspectives on quantitative and qualitative impacts around the world
This session considers how AI’s quantitative and qualitative impacts on labour markets and jobs play out in different national contexts. It features lightning talks with insights on AI-related labour market dynamics in South Africa, China, India, and South Korea, alongside time for observations and comments from the floor on other national contexts.
Speakers:
Chair:
4.15pm | Reflections: Regional perspectives on quantitative and qualitative impacts around the world
Building on the preceding session, this panel features regional perspectives on AI’s quantitative and qualitative impacts. Speakers from organisations with regional mandates covering Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific consider intra- and inter-regional differences and reflect on the benefits and limitations of examining AI’s impacts through a regional lens.
Speakers:
Chair:
5.15pm| Spotlight session: Research at the frontier
Speakers for this session deliver a series of lightning talks, presenting examples of innovative research that draws on novel approaches and data sources to examine AI’s labour market implications.
Speakers:
5.45pm | Measuring global AI adoption: A coalition of international organisations and AI companies
Speaker:
7.00pm | Dinner and fireside chat
Speakers:
Day two | Thursday 17 September
9.15am | UNESCO keynote: Gustavo Merino
Speaker:
9.30am | Setting the scene: Era Dabla-Norris
Speaker:
9.45am | Policy responses to AI’s labour market impacts
This session considers the range of policy options at governments’ disposal for managing and responding to AI-related labour market impacts, spanning skills policy, welfare system design, regulatory interventions, taxation and monetary policy. The session sets out the landscape of relevant policy instruments, examines different motivations for considering them, and discusses the state of evidence in relation to specific proposals.
Speakers:
Chair:
11.15am | Setting the scene: Simon Johnson
Speaker:
11.30am | National models for government capacity
This session considers the institutional structures, processes, and expertise that governments need to be able to assess and respond effectively to AI’s labour market impacts, and examines different national approaches to building such capacity. Speakers share perspectives from Spain, South Korea and Chile.
Speakers:
Chair:
1.15pm | The role of trade unions in addressing AI’s labour market impacts
This panel features trade union perspectives on responding to AI’s possible impacts on labour markets and the nature of work. Speakers bring insights from the UK, South Korea, Latin America, and a global angle. The discussion considers worker perspectives on ways of addressing expected impacts as well as the role of trade unions in pursuing them.
Speakers:
Chair:
2.30pm | Parallel sessions
4.15pm | AI and the future of work: The role of human rights
Speaker:
4.30pm | Worker power and public interest AI
Speaker:
4.45pm | Understanding and addressing AI’s labour market impacts: What's next for the international ecosystem?
To close the Global Forum for AI and the Social Sciences, this panel reflects on the discussions across the two days, with a view to identifying key implications, priorities, and next steps for the international ecosystem in understanding and addressing AI’s labour market impacts. Speakers’ strategic perspectives consider the role of global trade unions, international human rights frameworks, the research community, and the United Nations Independent International Scientific Panel on AI.
Speakers:
Chair:
