Working it out: Job security in the AI era

Reclaiming Our Future: How to Secure Jobs and Dignity in the Age of AI

At Web Summit Lisbon 2025, the panel “Working it out: Job security in the AI era” explored the pervasive issue of employment insecurity. Moderator Katie Collins facilitated a discussion with Professor Pavlina Tcherneva and author Cory Doctorow, who argued that job insecurity is not an inherent feature of the modern workforce or solely a consequence of AI, but rather a deliberate outcome of macroeconomic policies.

Professor Tcherneva explained that the job security of the post-war era was a temporary “blip,” a result of specific policies like regulated workplaces and public sector support. This changed in the 1970s when unemployment became a policy tool, with central banks raising interest rates to create joblessness and control inflation. This framework, she noted, allows technology like AI to be “weaponized” to further disrupt jobs.

Mr. Doctorow introduced his concept of “enshittification,” describing how digital platforms degrade over time while becoming inescapable. He argued that this decay, and the “shittification” of jobs, occurred because market disciplines – such as competition, effective regulation, interoperable technologies, and an empowered workforce – were systematically dismantled through antitrust failures, IP law expansion, and a lack of unionization among tech workers.

Mr. Doctorow emphasized that employers are eager to fire workers and are easily convinced by AI vendors, even when AI tools are inadequate. This credulity, combined with the ability to automate “algorithmic wage discrimination,” allows companies to exploit workers’ desperation by offering lower wages based on personal data, as seen with gig workers and nurses. This process, once labor-intensive, is now streamlined by AI.

Professor Tcherneva highlighted that AI’s impact extends to paychecks, predicting increased costs for energy and healthcare due to AI’s demands. She warned of an impending economic downturn, which, combined with AI’s influence, could lead to “jobless recoveries” and further erode the professional class, mirroring the long-standing precarity faced by low-wage workers.

Both speakers offered solutions. Professor Tcherneva called for a “massive all-hands-on-deck approach” including direct government employment and a new labor standard, such as job guarantees, to ensure decent, socially useful work. Mr. Doctorow envisioned a post-crash scenario where abundant, cheap AI resources could be repurposed by workers to enhance productivity and dignity, fostering a “virtuous cycle” of unionization and job guarantees.

Mr. Doctorow also suggested that workers could modify apps to refuse low offers, citing examples like Indonesian “Toyulaps,” if restrictive intellectual property laws were reformed. The panel concluded that the future of work with AI is a matter of policy choice and collective action, urging a re-evaluation of government’s role to ensure economic security and prevent technology from being used against labor.