{"id":103483,"date":"2025-07-24T17:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T21:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=103483"},"modified":"2025-07-24T17:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T21:44:13","slug":"what-happens-to-human-employees-when-ai-reshapes-the-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/07\/what-happens-to-human-employees-when-ai-reshapes-the-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"What happens to human employees when AI reshapes the workplace?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform work, Brock University experts are weighing in on AI\u2019s impact on human employees and the companies employing them.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerative AI will automate entry-level jobs in customer service, which will disproportionately affect the young and the undereducated,\u201d says Associate Professor of Digital Media Aaron Mauro. \u201cThe resulting job losses in a range of sectors (such as communications, education, journalism, driving \u2014 which is huge \u2014 and software developers) will have increasingly destructive impacts on society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amazon, for instance, has been heavily investing in generative AI, with its CEO recently saying the continued implementation of AI will lead to job losses.<\/a><\/p>\n

AI is also being integrated into autonomous delivery vehicles. Magna International Inc. recently launched a pilot project deploying self-driving delivery robots in Toronto,<\/a> signalling a future decrease in the need for human drivers.<\/p>\n

Mauro says experts like computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton \u2014 often referred to as \u201cthe godfather of AI\u201d \u2014 have indicated that knowledge economy work will be most easily automatable. Jobs that require \u201cphysical manipulation,\u201d on the other hand, may be more AI-proof.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be a huge challenge to higher education,\u201d when it comes to training future generations, Mauro says.<\/p>\n

Automation and technological innovation have already contributed to the redistribution of jobs at various times throughout history, such as during the Industrial Revolution or with the advent of computers and the internet.<\/p>\n

Assistant Professor of Ethics Francois Cote-Vaillancourt says jobs lost to AI today, however, won\u2019t necessarily be replaced by new jobs in the same field or of the same quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a fear that we did not necessarily have in the past where, yes, people were losing their jobs, but they could be reabsorbed,\u201d he says. \u201cNow, it’s not just \u2018less desirable employment,\u2019 like work in a factory, that is being automated. It will include people answering phones, yes, but it will also include white collar positions in management, accounting and human resources \u2014 and these workers will not necessarily find other jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cote-Vaillancourt says current sociopolitical conditions are also such that the advancement of AI is more likely to contribute to a widening skills gap and expanded wealth inequalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates have disengaged from regulating the economy, taxes on the wealthy have been continually lowered and there’s less of a safety net for those who lose their job,” he says. \u201cI want to say that, in the long run, we’re going to manage this just like any other technology, but on the other hand, I’m tempted to say that this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauro identifies the \u201cwildly successful Ontario Basic Income Pilot program<\/a> as a way to ward off the social harms of widespread job losses and the ongoing affordability crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, fairly taxing wealthy Canadians will be necessary to achieve social stability,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

It is also critical, Cote-Vaillancourt says, to ensure companies are using AI in a way that respects the law and the rights of its human workforce.<\/p>\n

But creating and enforcing guidelines around that won\u2019t be \u2014 and shouldn\u2019t be \u2014 left in the hands of the corporations themselves, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not the job of the corporation to prepare society for their own disruption \u2014 society must prepare for and push businesses to limit the disruption,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

There is a place, however, for governments to regulate and identify responsible use of AI technology, Cote-Vaillancourt says.<\/p>\n

That could come in the form of ensuring that a company\u2019s AI use operates in adherence to existing laws around intellectual property and copyright or the promotion and proliferation of hate speech, for instance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be completely unrealistic \u2014 and have detrimental effects \u2014 to have national or international governmental bodies try to regulate how corporations use AI when we don\u2019t really know all that it\u2019s capable of yet. Governments should make sure we integrate AI into a fair work environment and society,” he says. \u201cWhen you use AI to replace workers, you’re also going to need to pay taxes at some point \u2014 you can\u2019t just concentrate enormous amounts of wealth without playing by the rules of a society.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform work, Brock University experts are weighing in on AI\u2019s impact on human employees […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":103484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,4767,1],"tags":[8542,263,384,13541,2852,594],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103483"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103486,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103483\/revisions\/103486"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}