REFRAMING AI GOVERNANCE: CAPABILITARIAN INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE OF WORK

Resumen

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have sparked a lively debate on the future of work—a debate replete with quantitative predictions about the jobs threatened by AI alongside consequentialist comparisons between the anticipated costs and benefits of automation. Instead, in this paper, I explore whether the Capability Approach (CA), as originally developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, can contribute to this future of work debate and, if so, I consider the form that this contribution could take. I advance a flourishing-centred, capabilitarian paradigm for the future of work, aimed at shaping AI-driven automation so as to enable citizens’ capability for work and leisure as well as a broader expansion of their freedom. I defend this novel paradigm against potential objections and conclude by evaluating its differences from the predictive and consequentialist paradigms prevalent in the literature. Finally, I provide recommendations for research, policy and practice.

Keywords: Capability Approach. Future of work. Automation. Artificial Intelligence. Human flourishing.