AI och teknisk förändring i arbetslivet, ett erfarenhetsperspektiv

Sammanfattning

This bachelor thesis addresses the problem that contemporary debates about artificial intelligence and work are often dominated by future-oriented predictions and automation risks, while historical and experience-based perspectives receive less attention. Against this background, the thesis examines how seniors over the age of 80 relate their experiences of technological transitions in working life to current technological developments, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence and administrative or office-related work. The study is guided by the following research question: How do seniors over the age of 80 relate their experiences of technological transitions in working life to current technological developments, with a focus on administrative and office-related tasks? A qualitative research design was used, based on semi-structured interviews with seniors over 80 years old. The material was analysed through thematic analysis and generated four main themes: technology’s impact on work and working life, technological development from gradual change to AI as a possible turning point, attitudes toward technology, and perceptions of the future labour market and its transformation. The results show that today’s technological development is understood through previous experiences of technological change, such as computerisation, new communication tools and changes in work organisation. These experiences both reduce and complicate concerns about AI. On the one hand, AI is placed within a longer historical pattern in which new technologies have often created uncertainty before becoming integrated into working life. On the other hand, AI is perceived as more abstract and difficult to overview than earlier technologies, since it is associated with tasks previously connected to human thinking, judgement and knowledge. Overall, the thesis concludes that the impact of AI and digital technology should not primarily be understood as a question of whether work disappears or remains. Rather, the results indicate that work tasks, responsibilities and competence requirements are being reshaped. Human work is not necessarily replaced completely, but may shift toward supervision, assessment, control and responsibility. The thesis contributes an experience-based and generational perspective to the discussion of AI and work.