“Collaborating” with AI: Taking a System View to Explore the Future of Work

Callen Anthony (), Beth A. Bechky () and Anne-Laure Fayard ()
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Callen Anthony: Department of Management and Organizations, Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012
Beth A. Bechky: Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616
Anne-Laure Fayard: NOVA School of Business and Economics, 2775-405 Carcavelos, Portugal

Organization Science, 2023, vol. 34, issue 5, 1672-1694

Abstract: In the wake of media hype about artificial intelligence (AI)/human collaboration, organizations are investing considerable resources into developing and using AI. In this paper, we draw on theories of technology in organizations to frame new directions for the study of what it means to work “with” AI. Drawing on prior literature, we consider how interactions between users and AI might unfold through theoretical lenses which cast technology as a tool and as a medium. Reflecting on how AI technologies diverge from technologies studied in the past, we propose a new perspective, which considers technology as a counterpart in a system of work that includes its design, implementation, and use. This perspective encourages developing a grounded understanding of how AI intersects with work, and therefore ethnography, building on thick descriptions, is an apt approach. We argue that relational ethnographic approaches can assist organization theorists in navigating the methodological challenges of taking a counterpart perspective and propose several strategies for future research.

Keywords: work; technology; ethnography; collaboration; AI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:34:y:2023:i:5:p:1672-1694

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