The Initiative
We envision an economy where dramatic advances in automation and computation go hand in hand with improved opportunities and economic security for workers. Growing out of MIT's Work of the Future Task Force (2018-2020), the Work of the Future Initiative at the Industrial Performance Center conducts multidisciplinary research on the ways technology is changing work.
Generative AI Working Group
MIT’s Work of the Future Initiative is convening a multidisciplinary working group of industry, policy, and academic leaders to examine how the design and implementation of generative AI tools can contribute to higher-quality jobs and inclusive access to the latest technologies.
Automation Clinic
The Automation Clinic is an applied research and education program to understand how organizations make new technologies work in practice. MIT researchers and their partners work with organizations to learn the problems they aim to solve with automation, the challenges they face in deploying them, and the consequences for workers, customers, and society.
A Smarter Strategy for Using Robots
Despite advances in automation technology, the promise of productive and flexible automation, with minimal involvement of human workers, is far from reality, for two main reasons. First, adoption of automation technology has been limited. Second, when firms do automate, what they gain in productivity they tend to lose in process flexibility, resulting in what the […]
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Work Organization and High-paying Jobs
High-paying factory jobs in the 1940s were an engine of egalitarian economic growth for a generation. Are there alternate forms of work organization that deliver similar benefits for frontline workers? Work organization varies by types of complexity and their degree of employer control. Technical and tacit knowledge tasks receive higher pay for signaling or developing […]
View PDFThe State of Industrial Robotics: Emerging Technologies, Challenges, and Key Research Directions
Robotics and related technologies are central to the ongoing digitization and advancement of manufacturing. In recent years, a variety of strategic initiatives around the world including “Industry 4.0”, introduced in Germany in 2011 have aimed to improve and connect manufacturing technologies in order to optimize production processes.
View PublicationHow American Adults Obtain Work Skills: Results of a New National Survey
Employer-provided training is an important determinant of economic outcomes, yet our understanding of its extent and distribution is well out of date—with the most recent national survey being from 2008. This article updates our understanding of employer-provided training.
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