ABSTRACT
Drawing on an analysis of the value propositions by two world-leading providers of automation platforms, UiPath and Blue Prism, this chapter shows how Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and more recent forms of intelligent and AI-driven automation are constructed as meaningful through a set of discursive practices through which their ’solutions’ come to make sense. Through an analysis of various forms of promotional and informational materials distributed by the companies behind the platforms, the chapter brings to light how they imagine the future of work, with and without the presence of robots and automated processes. The results show how automation is envisioned and constructed as meaningful, as well as how and to what extent it involves human activity. The chapter shows that the futuristic and often promissory accounts of work automation rely on an understanding of work as flexible, while downplaying the fact that automation innovation and implementation is a rather complex process that transforms work and work tasks in light of dominant discourses and structures. It is argued that implementation of automation platforms involve and require an organisational restructuring through which a digital transformation that fits better with the imaginaries of our times is done. The chapter underscores that the study of automation technologies and their promissory character require a robust research agenda to unmask critical assumptions and potential power relations involved in how the development and implementation of such technologies are thought and done.
