We Are Not Machines: Sarah O’Connor on AI and the Future of Work
We chat to author and Financial Times journalist Sarah O’Connor about her book We are Not Machines: The Fight For the Future of Work
For our 100th episode, we’re marking the milestone with a Future of Work special. We chat to Sarah O’Connor, columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times, and author of We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work. We also discuss current stories about AI at work, from Anthropic’s report on AI agents to professional services pricing and charity workforce planning. Our first ever guest, Simon Blake, now CEO of Stonewall, also joins us with a voice note about work, relationships and the future of the charity sector.
What happens to the quality of work when AI and automation arrive? Sarah O’Connor has spent years reporting on the people experiencing these changes first-hand. In her book, she speaks to workers whose jobs are not simply disappearing, but are becoming more intense, more monotonous or less human.
Sarah tells us why we need to look beyond predictions about how many jobs AI might replace and pay attention to what is already happening to the work itself. Warehouse workers now work alongside robots, while translators are asked to edit machine-generated subtitles at greater speed and for less pay. The technology can bring real benefits, but the way it is introduced shapes whether people gain more control or lose the parts of work they value.
We discuss:
Why the quality of work matters as much as the number of jobs
How AI can affect the way we read, think, learn and relate to one another
Why young people may be especially affected as entry-level work and recruitment change
How leaders can involve workers in decisions about technology and protect the human parts of work
Why the future of work is still open to influence, and what gives Sarah hope
This is a thoughtful, grounded conversation about the choices leaders can make as work changes, and why technology’s impact on people is not inevitable.
Show notes
We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work by Sarah O’Connor
What does the future of the charity workforce look like in the age of AI?, a white paper from Zoe Amar Digital, Corndel and Microsoft
How employment is changing at Anthropic, the report discussed by Zoe and Paul
Episode 50: Toxic masculinity in the workplace, with Soma Sara
About Sarah O’Connor
Sarah O’Connor is a columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work, alongside longer features and investigations. Her journalism has received awards including the Orwell Prize for Exposing Britain’s Social Evils and the Wincott Award for financial journalism.
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Editing and production - Paul Thomas
Music by Joseph McDade - https://josephmcdade.com/music
Full transcript of this episode (srt file)
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