Technologies have revolutionized industries by enhancing operational efficiency, fostering productivity, and creating new job sectors. For example, machine learning algorithms now facilitate predictive maintenance in manufacturing, reducing downtime and optimizing maintenance schedules. Similarly, AI-powered chatbots have revolutionized customer service by offering round-the-clock support, thereby transforming the role of human customer service representatives. Autonomous vehicles represent another breakthrough, poised to disrupt the transportation industry by affecting logistics, trucking, and ride-sharing services. This transformation, however, presents a dual challenge. While it drives economic growth and innovation, it also raises concerns about job displacement, the erosion of traditional employment opportunities, and the widening gap between skilled and unskilled workers. The rapid pace of automation has ignited a crucial debate on the future of work, emphasizing the need to balance technological benefits with their impact on employment and workers' rights.
TopIntroduction: An Overview Of The Changing Labour Systems And The Understandings Of Work In The Age Of Automation
The contemporary practice of work is undergoing a significant transformation in the age of automation, driven by recent advancements in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and machine learning (Dwivedi, Hughes, Ismagilova, Aarts, Coombs, et al., 2021; Vrontis, Christofi, Pereira, Tarba, Makrides & Trichina, 2022; West, 2018). For instance, in manufacturing industries, machine learning algorithms are used for predictive maintenance, where equipment health is monitored in real-time to detect potential failures before they occur (Ayvaz & Alpay, 2021; Cakir, Guvenc & Mistikoglu, 2021; Carvalho, Soares, Vita, Francisco, Basto & Alcalá, 2019). This reduces downtime, improves productivity, and optimises maintenance schedules, impacting roles such as maintenance technicians and engineers (Ayvaz & Alpay, 2021). Additionally, AI-powered chatbots are revolutionising customer service by providing instant support and assistance to customers 24/7 (Ali, 2024; Roslan & Ahmad, 2023; Paliwal, Bharti & Mishra, 2020). These chatbots are able to deal with routine queries and troubleshoot customers’ problems, as well as provide personalised interactions from customer data which reduces the need for human customer service representatives (Weißensteiner, 2018; Adam, Wessel & Benlian, 2021). Furthermore, it is predicted that autonomous vehicles that are powered by AI will very likely disrupt the transportation industry once developed, which could significantly impact jobs in areas such as logistics or ride-sharing services (Abduljabbar, Dia, Liyanage & Bagloee, 2019; Nikitas, Michalakopoulou, Njoya & Karampatzakis, 2020). These examples show how recent technological developments such as AI, robotics, and machine learning have been reshaping the global labour frameworks, with impacts witnessed across various industries. As such, the examples mentioned demonstrate how automation is reshaping industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation in a way which is challenging traditional employment norms. Thus, automation, which once was seen as an issue that is restricted only to routine and manual tasks, is now expanding into areas of more complex cognitive functions, which now bears the potential to displace of a significant portion of the workforce globally (Autor, Mindell & Reynolds, 2020; Mindell & Reynolds, 2023; Moradi & Levy, 2020).
This change is like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, automation can enhance operational efficiency, boosts productivity, and foster the emergence of new employment sectors, which can encourage economic growth and innovation (Park, 2018; Autor & Salomons, 2018; Nübler, 2016; Mindell & Reynolds, 2023). However, on the other hand, It also makes people worry about workers losing their jobs, standard job opportunities going away, and the gap between skilled and unskilled labourers increasing. Rapid progress in automation has sparked academic debates about the future of work. Thus, it is vital to take advantage of technological advances while still minimising their negative effects on jobs and workers' rights. (Schlogl & Sumner, 2020; Lima, Barbosa, dos Santos & de Souza, 2021).