AI isn’t the problem: Care, systems and the future of work
Everyone's talking about what AI does to the work. In this episode, we wanted to talk about what it does to people.
Emily Shelton and co-host Katie Dunn, in her first time in the studio, sit down with business anthropologist and author Meghan French Dunbar to ask a harder question than the one usually on the table. For generations, entry-level work has been the training ground where people build judgment and expertise. AI is very good at that work. So if the rungs people used to climb are quietly disappearing, what grows the next generation?
It wouldn't be an honest conversation without the cost, either. What we lose when the path to expertise gets shorter, what care actually asks of leaders, and how to hold the real benefits of AI and its real costs at the same time. These are questions we're sitting with, not ones we've solved.
If you're a leader trying to make room for people in the middle of all this, we think you'll find yourself in this conversation.
In this episode, you’ll hear about:
What to do with the time AI frees up, and why the instinct to cram in more work misses the mark
Care as a leadership skill rather than a personality trait, and why it can be trained
One thing anyone can do tomorrow, whatever their level, to make their work a little more human
Referenced in this episode:
"Generative AI at Work" (Brynjolfsson, Li and Raymond, Stanford and MIT), the source for the 14% overall and 34% novice productivity findings: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/working-papers/generative-ai-work
"Mental Health at Work: Managers and Money" (UKG Workforce Institute), on managers affecting mental health as much as a spouse or partner: https://www.ukg.com/company/newsroom/managers-impact-our-mental-health-more-doctors-therapists-and-same-spouses
Torani's people-first opportunity model: https://www.inc.com/jennifer-conrad/toranis-growth-strategy-no-layoffs-local-jobs-shared-ownership/91284581
Erin Wade's colour-code system at Homeroom: her EEOC testimony at https://www.eeoc.gov/testimony-erin-wade-founder-and-ceo-homeroom, and her 2018 Washington Post op-ed
If this podcast sparks new questions or reflects what your organization is experiencing, we’d love to continue the conversation. Connect with us to share what resonated or explore how these ideas might show up in your context.
