AI and the Future of Work David Beer, Édouard Havis, David Stillwell, Anna Thomas and John McDermid (Chair)
Event details
PLEASE NOTE: This event will take place at the Ron Cooke Hub, Campus East, University of York
Discussions about the introduction of AI in the workplace can divide opinion. Should we see this future trajectory as releasing workers from repetitive tasks and increasing efficiency and productivity? Or is there a risk of jobs being lost and a decrease in empathy and human interaction? What control would there be over the algorithms being used by AI?
There is certainly a role for AI for unsafe tasks that people should not, or cannot, do, but ‘low-value’ tasks are an important part of the learning curve for many employees. Our work is also an important way we define ourselves in society. Will AI open up new opportunities or threaten traditional patterns of work?
Following the 2025 AI Action Summit in Paris, join our panel of expert speakers from the UK and France as they discuss whether we should fear or embrace AI in the workplace. Our speakers include David Beer of the University of York, Édouard Havis of Inria's LaborIA, Anna Thomas of the Institute for the Future of Work, and David Stillwell of the University of Cambridge. The session is chaired by John McDermid, Director of the Centre for Assuring Autonomy at the University of York.
This event is part of the Festival Focus ‘Securing Our Future’ presented in collaboration with the French Embassy in the UK. You may also be interested in 'Protecting Our Blue Planet' taking place on Wednesday 11 June.
About the speakers
David Beer is a Professor of Sociology at the University of York, UK. His work explores how transformations in technology and media reshape culture and society. His focus is often upon questions of power. Amongst other things, this has included work on the politics of data and metrics, the social power of algorithms, the tensions of AI and the dynamics of social media. Alongside this, he works on the history and future of social thought – with a focus on imagination, creativity and inspiration. David’s books include The Tensions of Algorithmic Thinking: Automation, Intelligence and the Politics of Knowing (Bristol University Press, 2023), Social Media and the Automatic Production of Memory: Classification, Ranking and the Sorting of the Past (co-authored with Ben Jacobsen - Bristol University Press, 2021) and The Quirks of Digital Culture (Emerald, 2019). He is on the editorial boards of the journals Theory, Culture & Society, Information, Communication & Society, Cultural Sociology (where he is currently chair of the editorial board), Dialogues on Digital Society and Big Data & Society.
Dr Édouard Havis is a French project leader for Programme IA at Inria, since March 2021. In his current role with LaborIA, he assists in preparing and executing projects, working closely with French ministers teams to align technical, scientific, and budgetary aspects. Édouard helps coordinate reports, track research progress, and communicate findings. Previously, he supported the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) by supporting the organisation of events as workshops, managing budgets, and conducting research.
Professor John McDermid OBE is the Director of the Centre for Assuring Autonomy at the University of York. John has worked on safety of complex, computer and software-controlled systems for almost 40 years, leading major research initiatives and acting as advisor to industry and government on several continents. He first started work on safety of AI-controlled systems in the early 2000s (neural networks for engine control for Rolls-Royce, adaptive flight control for NASA). Since January 2018 he has led a major initiative supported by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation, addressing the safety and assurance of AI and autonomous systems across a wide range of domains (e.g. health, autonomous vehicles, maritime, mining/quarrying) and with global reach. His recent activities around AI safety include advising the UK Department of Transport and Law Commission on safety and ethics for the introduction of self-driving vehicles to the UK; advising on strategy for AI and Data Science for the UK’s National Physical Laboratory; advising the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on their strategy for assuring and regulating AI; presenting at two fringe events for the first International AI Safety summit and he was a Senior Advisor in the production of the International Scientific Report on the Safety of Advanced AI for the second AI Safety Summit in Korea.
David Stillwell is Professor of Computational Social Science, Deputy Director of the MBA Programme and Academic Director of the Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge. His research uses big data to understand psychology. He published papers showing using social media data from millions of consenting individuals to illustrate that the computer can predict a user’s personality as accurately as their spouse can. Follow-up research found that personalising an advert to the recipient’s psychology is more effective than generic ads. David has spoken at workshops organised by the EU Data Protection Supervisor, by the European Parliament’s Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel, to UK government regulators, and to the Bank of England. His research has also been cited by many governments’ national data protection regulators worldwide. David does consultancy on the topics of psychometrics, people analytics, and big data. He has worked on projects with companies including Amazon Payments, Barclays, Hilton Hotels, RBS, Shell, and Ubisoft.
Anna Thomas MBE is the Founding Director and Co-Director of the Institute for the Future of Work. She was formerly a barrister specialising in employment law and appointed a Counsel to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Anna was Head of Policy for the Future of Work Commission and is a Fellow of IPR and RSA.
Partners
