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Why Artificial Intelligence Will Not Outsmart Complex Knowledge Work

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  • Lene Pettersen

Abstract

The potential role of artificial intelligence in improving organisations’ performance and productivity has been promoted regularly and vociferously since the 1960s. Artificial intelligence is today reborn out of big business, similar to the occurrences surrounding big data in the 1990s, and expectations are high regarding AI’s potential role in businesses. This article discusses different aspects of knowledge work that tend to be ignored in the debate about whether or not artificial intelligence systems are a threat to jobs. A great deal of knowledge work concerns highly complex problem solving and must be understood in contextual, social and relational terms. These aspects have no generic nor universal rules and solutions and, thus, cannot be easily replaced by artificial intelligence or programmed into computer systems, nor are they constructed based on models of the rational brain. In this respect, this article draws on philosopher Herbert Dreyfus’ thesis regarding artificial intelligence.

Suggested Citation

  • Lene Pettersen, 2019. "Why Artificial Intelligence Will Not Outsmart Complex Knowledge Work," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 33(6), pages 1058-1067, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:33:y:2019:i:6:p:1058-1067
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017018817489
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bag, Surajit & Pretorius, Jan Ham Christiaan & Gupta, Shivam & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2021. "Role of institutional pressures and resources in the adoption of big data analytics powered artificial intelligence, sustainable manufacturing practices and circular economy capabilities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Angelo Gasparre & Lia Tirabeni, 2024. "Choreographies of Care: A Dance of Human and Material Agency in Rehabilitation Work with Robots," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(2), pages 483-504, April.
    3. Nuno Boavida & Marta Candeias, 2021. "Recent Automation Trends in Portugal: Implications on Industrial Productivity and Employment in Automotive Sector," Societies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, August.
    4. Emrah Karakilic, 2022. "Why Do Humans Remain Central to the Knowledge Work in the Age of Robots? Marx’s Fragment on Machines and Beyond," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(1), pages 179-189, February.
    5. Pablo Casas & Concepción Román, 2024. "The impact of artificial intelligence in the early retirement decision," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 583-618, August.
    6. António Moniz & Marta Candeias & Nuno Boavida, 2022. "Changes in productivity and labour relations," Post-Print hal-04670873, HAL.
    7. Kolade, Oluwaseun & Owoseni, Adebowale, 2022. "Employment 5.0: The work of the future and the future of work," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    8. Sudatta Kar & Arpan Kumar Kar & Manmohan Prasad Gupta, 2021. "Modeling Drivers and Barriers of Artificial Intelligence Adoption: Insights from a Strategic Management Perspective," Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 217-238, October.

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