The future of work is still human

Hello and welcome to Working It.

I’m writing this from a quiet spot inside day one of FT Live’s giant Future of AI Summit in London, where Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web and co-founder of Inrupt, spoke to my colleague Cristina Criddle about dotcom lessons for the AI age. Cristina kicked off with the question everyone’s asking: are we in an AI bubble?

Tim’s take? “It’s not like the dotcom bubble. Yes, there are things that will deflate, but the value that AI brings is real.”

Another interesting point from the panel, which also included Inrupt chief executive and co-founder John Bruce, was the idea that AI therapists “will be huge” in future, but, as Tim cautioned: “like a lot of things, we’ll have to learn to use them to a limited extent . . . because if you spend all your time talking to an AI, then you may omit to do all the other things that you ought to be doing in your life.”

Read on for a counter-intuitive take on the future of work (humans are back in fashion!).

PS A reminder to sign up for our limited-edition newsletter, The State of AI. Over six weeks, this collaboration between the FT and MIT Technology Review will examine the ways in which AI is reshaping global power .

The future of work is still human powered

I’ve been reporting for a while on the AI rollout — and the accompanying disruption for those affected . Our latest Working It film covers this subject — and my conversations with experts on the future of work often focus on the uncertainty and job-eroding consequences of the tech transformation.

Marcus Collins, however, takes a different view. “I think we have overemphasised the importance of technology in the future of work,” the Michigan Ross School of Business professor and marketing expert told me on the sidelines of a conference in London this week. “I liken it to [the media theorist] Marshall McLuhan’s argument that technology is merely the extension of human behaviour.” (It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone bring up McLuhan — I welcome his return!)

And Marcus went on: “If we are to explore and understand the future of work, we have first to explore and understand the future of humanity. I would argue that the future of work is actually cultural, not technological. The technology is merely an extension of how we operate, who we are.”

He is the author of For The Culture, a marketing-focused book about understanding culture and its impacts. When it comes to our workplaces, Marcus said, we now have to decide if we value people for our shared humanity — or as a means to an end, when “our cultural perspective is that people are cogs in a machine to get some economic output that we are looking for”. The mass lay-offs we are seeing now, for example, are a sign, he suggested, that “these people do not matter”.

During this time of transformation, “the technology can be used to aid our humanity, or it can be used to, unfortunately, underscore the worst parts of our humanity. The technology doesn’t have an opinion. It is what it is and it’s value neutral. It’s really about the meaning we imbue it with, and ultimately how it extends our perception of what reality is.”

I asked Marcus for some general advice on how business leaders should navigate uncertainty. “Life is by its very nature uncertain,” he said. “So leadership is bound to uncertainty.” And he said that it’s “not true” that leaders are solely responsible for creating and maintaining their organisation’s culture. Rather, they just need to set an example and model “the culture, the conventions of the organisation, in an effort to activate and catalyse the many leaders inside the organisation — to put a battery on their back and let them go and inspire people around them.”

• In a nutshell: We may be giving AI too much credit — and personality. Culture is at the heart of human behaviour, especially shared cultures. Let’s focus on that, and offer dignity and value to our fellow humans at work.

Five top stories from the world of work

1. Britain’s ‘fit note’ system faces shake-up to get more people back to work: The long-awaited government review into economic inactivity, led by Sir Charlie Mayfield, was published this week and Delphine Strauss looks into some of the proposals already taking shape.

2. The chiefs of staff running the world’s biggest companies: Anjli Raval gives us a rare — and fascinating — glimpse behind the scenes of business as she interviews people who have acted as chiefs of staff to some of the world’s most prominent CEOs.

3. Executives get back on screen as company podcasts turn to video: The big trend towards filmed podcasts is mirrored inside the world of corporate audio, writes Emma Jacobs. IBM has even hired New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell to interview its leaders.

4. Why the job ladder matters for migrants: Sarah O’Connor digs into new data around career paths for migrants. More investment at an early stage of their careers would help many progress faster — boosting both their own earnings and the economy.

5. You can learn a language late in life: A lovely column from long-term Spanish learner Pilita Clark on why we persist in our efforts — even though it can be slow for adults to become proficient in another tongue.

One more thing . . . 

The author Jeanette Winterson has a thought-provoking and beautifully written Substack newsletter: Mind over Matter. One recent post begins with an exploration of the human freeze response during traumatic situations, which leads on to a wider exploration of the necessity of stillness — and being alone — for true creative “flow” to happen . Highly recommended.

A view from the Working It community

This week we have a glorious sunset over London, seen from the Thames-adjacent office of Lily Searle, senior associate at law firm Fieldfisher. Do keep these views coming, wherever you are working (and daytime clouds are also welcome): isabel.berwick@ft.com.

Lily wins a “lucky dip” of new management and business books.

This week’s book giveaway

Wankernomics is the creation of Australian comedians James Schloeffel and Charles Firth. In their properly laugh-out-loud stage show, the auditorium becomes the venue for an all-staff meeting at Innovation Solutions; a company where meaningless jargon phrases and performative activity have replaced actual work.

No absurd and pointless aspect of corporate life is left undiscussed, as the hapless managers dig into the mysteries of what, exactly, their employer does. At the show I attended in London, “future-facing” initiatives and many “stakeholders” were in evidence. Their Instagram feed is also great. (“Five totally meaningless but impressive sounding phrases to say at your next performance review.”)

I love workplace absurdity and will interview the duo for a future newsletter. In the meantime, we have 10 copies of their new book, A Deep Dive into Workplace Bullsh*ttery, to give away. Enter on this form before 5pm UK on Friday November 15 for a chance to win.