ABSTRACT

This book examines how global technological advances shape the way we work and allocate work today, and how we might do so in the future, exploring advances in robotics, artificial intelligence, green technology and implications for workforce skills and future welfare. It uses Australia as a case study, contrasting the country’s experience to those elsewhere.

The book is a cross-disciplinary collaboration that brings together the expertise of engineers, data scientists, economists and sociologists. The reader is offered an overview of the current uses of advanced digital technologies and what it means for today’s workforce, society and economy. The book also looks to the future. Current uses of advanced technologies lag its already existing capability. The contributions note potential future applications of technology and the economic, social and workplace implications of technological change.

This book should be of interest to anyone studying and wishing to better understand what work might look like in the future and how we might prepare for likely changes.

chapter 1|18 pages

Introduction

Perspectives of Technology-Driven Economic and Social Change

chapter 2|12 pages

Robotics in Australia

Uses, Opportunities, and Challenges

chapter 4|23 pages

Charging Ahead

Electric Vehicles as Advanced Industrial Opportunity

chapter 5|20 pages

Economic Complexity

Rebuilding Industry through Innovation

chapter 6|20 pages

Just Transitions

Just for Whom? Lessons from Australia's Automotive Closure

chapter 7|34 pages

Being Safe from and with Robots

Work Health and Safety in the Age of the Intelligent Machine

chapter 8|22 pages

Workplace Relations with AI in Mind

What Is Likely to Change?

chapter 9|15 pages

More than Programming?

The Impact of AI on Work and Skills

chapter 10|18 pages

Reaching for Utopia

Opportunities for Redistributing Work and Leisure, Strengthening Dignity and Social Justice

chapter 11|20 pages

The Mission Ahead

How to Prepare for the Right Type of Change *