WorkAI: A Toolkit for the Design of AI-driven Future of Work

The proliferation of (semi-)autonomous and learning interactive systems (i.e., artificial intelligence-driven, AI) will significantly change work practices. While AI promises an immense increase in performance, it also has novel experiential, social, cultural, and ethical implications. Unlike conventional systems, AI’s potential agency and decision-making capabilities will turn AI-driven systems into counterparts and, at best, collaborators. We used a speculative, participatory approach to collect narratives about current and future work practices with AI, their conditions, and consequences. This informed "WorkAI", a card deck and a canvas to support the design of AI-driven work. The twenty cards encourage participants to apply important aspects such as reliability/trust or meaning to collaboration with AI. The toolkit was developed in two iterations. It provided structure to the discussion and stimulated questions that facilitated the development of future narratives about working with AI.