Education, Opportunity, and the Future of Work in an Age of Smart Machines

This talk seeks to answer the question of whether we’re entering a new age of opportunity or witnessing the end of knowledge work as we know it. Here, I challenge the dominant narrative that today’s industrial transformation will ultimately create more and better jobs, with education remaining the best route to social mobility and economic growth. My challenge draws on a long career of international research, including ongoing conversations with corporate leaders and technologists. I will show how AI is being used to ‘capture’ human knowledge and redefine what it means to be educated, skilled, and employable. If employers continue to focus on cost-efficiency and what we call ‘cognitive capture,’ it’s likely to accelerate the death of human capital. But technology is not destiny; there are different ways of doing things, even if capitalism is the DNA of all industrial revolutions. This includes an urgent need to reimagine education and technology to create a fairer and more human future of work.

This event is open to the general public and does not require registration (but please note that our seating is limited). Coffee and tea will be served at 4:30 pm, and the event will be followed by a reception in the Piano Lounge, Graham House.

Co-organized with UBC Emeritus College.

Professor Phillip Brown was a distinguished research professor at Cardiff University, UK, before giving up his day job to become an emeritus professor. He spent much of his academic career studying the future of work and its relationship to education, economy, and society. His research has involved interviewing leading transnational companies and senior policy makers in countries including China, Finland, Germany, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He has written, co-authored, and co-edited eighteen books, including The Death of Human Capital?: Its Failed Promise and How to Renew it in an Age of Disruption (2020, Oxford University Press); The Global Auction (2011, Oxford University Press); and over 120 academic articles and reports.  Phil chaired a Welsh Government Review on Digital Innovation for the Economy and the Future of Work (2019), and was research programme director (2019-23) for Digital Futures Work. He is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and is currently AI fellow (Future of Work) in the Ministry of Justice, Westminster, UK Government. He is writing a new book on AI and the futures of work.