Technology and Work

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The UC Berkeley Labor Center’s Technology and Work Program provides worker organizations and policymakers with the research, policy analysis, and training they need in order to respond to rapid technological change in the workplace and ensure that AI and other digital technologies benefit rather than harm workers. We focus on low-wage industries and the workers of color, women, and immigrants who are often on the frontlines of experimentation with emerging technologies.

Research & Publications

Press Coverage

Noema

Why A Liberal Arts Education Will Soon Be More Valuable Than Ever

A 2018 study from UC Berkeley Labor Center concerning the prospective automation of truck driving pointed out that a driver’s job is only partially about keeping a vehicle moving ahead between two white lines. If that were all there is to it, lorries would already be empty of humans. In reality, close ethnographic observation showed that truck drivers don’t just navigate the roads, but in fact act as complex problem-solvers in haphazard physical environments.

San Jose Spotlight

San Jose workers want safeguards from AI

“Having the union and workers at the table to even have this discussion is absolutely critical, if there’s a chance that we can ensure that the technology is benefiting society as a whole,” said Lisa Kresge, of discussions of worker safeguards around burgeoning AI technology.