Workshop and Talk with Prof. Aaron Benanav, Assistant Professor, Department of Global Development, Cornell University
Workshop: “Unemployment, Underemployment, and Informality on the World Scale” 12:30-2PM, HG 1010
This workshop will engage with the complex dynamics of unemployment, underemployment, and informality from a global historical perspective. Starting with Charles Booth’s late 19th-century investigations in London, Benanav traces how informal work and underemployment often overshadowed outright unemployment both in the Global North and South. The workshop will delve into the historical attempts by states and reformers to measure, control, and address diverse forms of employment insufficiency, revealing how these efforts have been marked by political contestation and normative assumptions. Topics include the intertwined nature of formal and informal economies, the limitations of traditional economic measures, and the implications of viewing employment insufficiency as a historically contingent and value-laden construct. This conversation aims to foster a critical understanding of how labor dynamics have evolved globally and to explore alternative frameworks for conceptualizing and addressing employment challenges in contemporary society.
Public Talk: “The Impact of Generative AI on Employment: Hype, Reality, and the Future of Work” 4:30-6PM, HG 1010
This talk provides a critical analysis of the potential impact of generative AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, on the job market. While researchers and tech leaders have predicted that AI will eliminate a significant portion of human jobs, Benanav argues that similar automation forecasts in the past, such as those made about robots in the early 2010s, largely failed to materialize in the predicted manner. Part of the reason for that failure was that robot technologies were hyped up far beyond their actual capabilities. But another reason is that these technologies tend to transform job tasks rather than eliminate professions. The discussion will delve into the limitations of AI in replicating human cognitive tasks, the use of AI to control and monitor work, and the role of technology in reshaping rather than eradicating employment. Emphasizing the interplay between technological, economic, social, and political factors, this conversation aims to provide a different perspective on how AI might change the nature of work and the potential paths forward, including worker organization and alternative frameworks for technological development.
