“The Politics of AI and the Changing Contours of Work: An Analysis of the NPR Interview on AI and Employment”

Your essay should be no more than 1000 words. Additionally, your essay should begin with
a brief abstract (this should be roughly 20% of the total essay or no more than 200 words), which
summarizes your argument. The length of the abstract is included in the 1000 word limit. Your essay
should be 12 pt font, single spaced with one inch margins, and in a doc., docx., or pdf format. Make sure
you cite specific passages and provide page numbers as a reference – you do not need to include a works
cited page. You can do this by including a parenthesis after the quote or section you paraphrase: for
example “Sherman says… (p.12),” or (Sherman 12) depending on if you are using a direct quote or
paraphrasing. You can use direct quotes from the text, but you should also try to put the argument into
your own words when possible. You must include a word count at the end of each essay.
Listen to the article “Is AI a Job-Killer or an up-skiller?,” which can be found here:
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/23/1177772441/is-ai-a-job-killer-or-an-up-skiller
Using material from this class analyze this interview and the arguments that are being made. What
theories and readings from this course help us to understand the politics of AI, Automation,
Routinized Service Work, and Emotional Labor? How do concepts, theories, and ideas of this course
help us make sense of the changing contours of work and employment? How does the material from
this course help us understand the world of work in the context of AI, Automation, Routinized Service
Work, and Control, Consent, and Cooperation? Essays will be evaluated based on your creativity and
your ability to craft a strong original argument. Reminder – make sure you cite sources (author, page
#).
As a suggestion, I would think about the following. How does AI represent an extension of Taylorism –
control over work coupled with increases in productivity and efficiency? How does it relate to issues
of control, cooperation, and consent as discussed by Braverman, Edwards, and Burawoy? How does it
relate to the concept of emotional labor, routinized service work, the service work triangle – think
about Hochschild, Leidner, Lopez, and Sherman? These are just suggestions but each of these writers
gives us tools with which to interpret the changing landscape work and employment.