AI at Work: Automation, Distributed Cognition, and Cultural Embeddedness

Abstract

This cross-disciplinary exploration delves into the multiple intersections between Artificial Intelligence (AI), work, and organization, mobilizing different research strands such as STS and Organization Theory, as well as the History of Science and Technology and Cultural Sociology. Matteo Pasquinelli proposes an exploration of theories of automation drawn from political economy and the history of science and technology, investigating their explanatory accounts of technological innovation. As argued by the author, these theories provide important foundations for unveiling the socio-technical genealogy of current forms of AI as well as the specific logic of automation that they follow. Cristina Alaimo continues by illustrating the perspective of distributed social cognition for the study of AI in organizational settings, crucial for abandoning the assumption that intelligence is solely an attribute of individuals or technologies. This second contribution invites an exploration of how, even in organizational environments characterized by the presence of AI, intelligence still appears as a collective capability. Finally, Alessandro Gandini stresses how the encounter between AI and society is primarily a cultural issue, proposing a critical discussion of its main implications. For the author, sociology should approach AI phenomenologically and critically, but it should also take advantage from the innovations that tools such as generative AI might bring.