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The last human job: AI, depersonalization and the industrial clock

Critics commonly warn about three primary hazards of AI-job disruption, bias, and surveillance/privacy concerns. Yet the conventional story of AI’s dangers is missing a vital issue and blinding us to its role in a cresting “depersonalisation crisis.”
Critics commonly warn about three primary hazards of AI-job disruption, bias, and surveillance/privacy concerns. Yet the conventional story of AI’s dangers is missing a vital issue and blinding us to its role in a cresting “depersonalisation crisis.”
Wednesday 19 February 2025 | 1 hour 28 minutes 52 seconds
Download File | 81.37MB

Allison Pugh explains how we have ended up in a moment in which machines have time for people, while human workers rush by, bent to the dictates of the industrial clock, and maps out its implications for the future of our social health.

Critics commonly warn about three primary hazards of AI – job disruption, bias, and surveillance/privacy concerns. Yet the conventional story of AI’s dangers is missing a vital issue and blinding us to its role in a cresting "depersonalisation crisis." If we are concerned about increasing loneliness and social fragmentation, then we need to reckon with how technologies enable or impede human connection.

Allison Pugh explains how we have ended up in a moment in which machines have time for people, while human workers rush by, bent to the dictates of the industrial clock, and maps out its implications for the future of our social health.

Critics commonly warn about three primary hazards of AI – job disruption, bias, and surveillance/privacy concerns. Yet the conventional story of AI’s dangers is missing a vital issue and blinding us to its role in a cresting "depersonalisation crisis." If we are concerned about increasing loneliness and social fragmentation, then we need to reckon with how technologies enable or impede human connection.