Redesigning AI for Shared Prosperity: An Agenda by Stephanie Bell and Katya Klinova

AI poses a risk of automating and degrading jobs around the world, creating harmful effects to vulnerable workers’ livelihoods and well-being. How can we deliberately account for the impacts on workers when designing and commercializing AI products in order to benefit workers’ prospects while simultaneously boosting companies’ bottom lines and increasing overall productivity? The Partnership on AI’s recently released report Redesigning AI for Shared Prosperity: An Agenda puts forward a proposal for such accounting. The Agenda outlines a blueprint for how industry and government can contribute to AI that advances shared prosperity.

Stephanie Bell is a Research Fellow at the Partnership on AI affiliated with the AI and Shared Prosperity Initiative. Her work focuses on how workers and companies can collaboratively design and develop AI products that create equitable growth and high quality jobs. She holds a DPhil in Politics and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Oxford, where her ethnographic research examined how people can combine expertise developed in their everyday lives with specialized knowledge to better advocate for their needs and well-being.

Katya Klinova is the Head of AI, Labor, and the Economy Programs at the Partnership on AI. In this role, she oversees the AI and Shared Prosperity Initiative and other workstreams which focus on the mechanisms for steering AI progress towards greater equality of opportunity and improving the working conditions along the AI supply chain. She holds an M.Sc. in Data Science from University of Reading and MPA in International Development from Harvard University, where her work examined the potential impact of AI advancement on the economic growth prospects of low- and middle-income countries.

Robert Seamans is an Associate Professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. His research focuses on how firms use technology in their strategic interactions with each other, and also focuses on the economic consequences of AI, robotics and other advanced technologies. His research has been published in leading academic journals and been cited in numerous outlets including The Atlantic, Forbes, Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others. During 2015-2016, Professor Seamans was a Senior Economist for technology and innovation on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

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One way to account for the impacts on workers when designing and commercializing AI products is to involve workers and their representatives in the design process. This can help ensure that the technology is developed in a way that takes into account the potential impacts on workers and their livelihoods. Additionally, it is important to establish policies and programs that support retraining and upskilling for workers whose jobs may be affected by AI, such as providing access to education and training opportunities. The Partnership on AI's report Redesigning AI for Shared Prosperity: An Agenda also suggests creating incentives for companies to invest in the well-being and development of their workforce, and establishing a social contract between workers, companies, and government to ensure that the benefits of AI are shared widely. Additionally, it's important to design AI systems with transparency and explainability to ensure workers understand how decisions are being made, which may help improve trust and acceptance of the technology.

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What's the point of being rich if everyone else is also rich. Don't you need the existence of legions of surfs to feel that you did good? Won't millions of uncouth former surfs show up at your favorite Michelin star restaurants and fill up the place and make a mess? That would be hell.