2025 Human Development Report Consultation on the Future of Work and Artificial Intelligence

In partnership with International Labor Organization (ILO), Human Development Report Office (HDRO) seeks to convene a consultation on artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of work, to inform the 2025 Human Development Report (HDR). AI has the potential to transform employment, accelerate, augment and/or replace work. By augmenting what people can do, AI has the potential to boost productivity, expand human capability, and enable more opportunities in the labor market for people who have historically been excluded. On the other hand, large-scale introduction of AI will likely lead to structural shifts in the labor market and may propel new patterns of inequalities if policies are not in place to mitigate risks. [i] Furthermore, AI systems are already impacting the world of work, through, for example, algorithmic management [ii] and global AI (data) supply chains [iii].

The consultations on the 2025 HDR intend to start a conversation on the report's themes, with the purpose of seeking input and advice on report content from thematic and regional experts. More than producing a one-off product, the HDRs act as broad global platform bringing together multiple and diverse networks of policymakers, thought leaders, academics, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, and other stakeholders in deliberation, knowledge-sharing, and innovation. Consultations inform the process of developing the report and ensure that it speaks to key human development issues for people and policymakers. Events are by invitation only, to spur an open and productive dialogue.

Session Description and Guiding Questions: 

This consultation will be structured as a half-day roundtable discussion, with presentations and open discussions on the impacts of AI on the future of work, exploring how AI may propel structural shifts on labor markets and what that means for workers at large. According to a recent ILO study, both job quantity and job quality are likely to be affected by AI, but overall employment effects of AI system will vary across countries. [iv] Steering technological innovation in ways that serve people is key to ensure that AI advances, rather than inhibits, human development. In the realm of work, upgrading governance approaches, institutions, and policy options, may be needed to maximize some of the opportunities and gains led by advancements in AI while addressing some of the potential risks and losses.

Some guiding questions for the discussion include:

• In what ways are AI systems and technologies disrupting labor markets, and what does it mean for productivity, employment, and inequalities? What new patterns are emerging? What are some potential opportunities and challenges?
• What types of governance approaches, institutional mechanisms, and social protection are needed to ensure that the digital transformation is positive for workers? How do we design policies and institutions to meet the needs of workers in an evolving labor market driven by AI and broader digital transformations?

Background on the 2025 Human Development Report:

The 2025 HDR is part of a trilogy of reports that looks at a new uncertainty complex comprised of intensifying polarization, destabilized planetary systems, and expanding societal transformation driven by digitalization, including more powerful and far-reaching AI applications. It takes a people-centered approach that considers how ideas, knowledge, and information are central to human development. The knowledge/information environment is being reshaped by innovative technologies, creating new challenges and opportunities. Navigating this new context in a way that expands capabilities and agency will shape the course for human development for the next decades.

The 2025 HDR will explore: 

• How a life stage perspective illuminates the different impacts of digitalization on various age groups, including people including people of all ages living with disabilities. It analyzes how digitalization is reshaping key areas of human development, including health, education, social norms, relationships, and agency, changing not only the way societies operate but also the way human beings function. Early childhood, for instance, is a vulnerable stage of life, during which digital technologies shape developing brains and bodies. For school age children, digital technologies bring exciting opportunities for learning, both in school and at home, while also presenting risks that seem to be correlated with a deterioration of wellbeing amongst young people. At adult age, digitalization may radically shift the daily activities of work, care, and social interactions within families and with friends. Older people often have as much access to digital technologies as younger people, but how will the digital technologies be used and shaped by the ageing population in many countries?
   
• How broader systemic aspects of digitalization shape economic and political processes, which constitute the foundation for individual flourishing. For instance, digitalization, and particularly AI, have the potential to disrupt political processes, but they can also enhance inclusiveness and transparency. The report uses a human rights lens to shed light on the tensions that may emerge around preserving freedoms of expression or association with a fundamentally reshaped information environment. It will also examine the implications of lack of diversity in the data used to train AI algorithms. When it comes to the world of work, AI can both augment and replace people, so it is important to consider how to prevent emerging patterns of inequality in human development. New technologies offer the promise of new possibilities to address the challenges of the Anthropocene, but computational and material demands can also exacerbate pressures on the planet through natural resource extraction and energy consumption.

Societal transformations have required institutional and policy innovations in the past, while at the same time mobilizing new coalitions to empower people to navigate new realities. The report will lay out a road map that seeks to inspire people at large, as well as decision makers, to harness digital technologies for human flourishing. Among others, this includes leveraging digital advancements to enhance human capabilities and implementing policies that enable people to exercise their agency in the digital space.

Agenda:

Reference

Carbonero, F., Davies, J., Ernst, E. et al. The impact of artificial intelligence on labor markets in developing countries: a new method with an illustration for Lao PDR and urban Viet Nam. J Evol Econ 33, 707–736 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-023-00809-7

Gmyrek, P., Berg, J., and Bescond, D. 2023. “Generative Ai and Jobs: A Global Analysis of Potential Effects on Job Quantity and Quality.” ILO Working Paper 96.

Rani, U., Pesole, A., and González Vázquez, I. 2024. Algorithmic Management Practices in Regular Workplaces: Case Studies in Logistics and Healthcare. Joint Research Centre.

Rani, U. and Dhir, R. 2024. “AI-enabled business model and human-in-the-loop (deceptive AI): implications for labor” Chapter 4 of the Handbook of Artificial intelligence at Work, Edited by Martha Garcia-Murillo, Ian MacInnes, and Andres Renda, Edward Elgar Publications, 2024.

[i] Gmyrek, Berg and Bescond 2023; Carbonero, Davies, Ernst et al 2023.

[ii] Rani, Pesole and González Vázquez 2024.

[iii] Rani and Dhir 2024.

[iv] Gmyrek, Berg and Bescond 2023.