AI as an Emancipatory Technology: Smart Hand Tools for Skilled Trade Workers

Abstract

For skilled trade workers who use tools to do their work, technological innovation has often resulted in subjugation at the hand of their employers. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) introduce the possibility of a new dynamic. While most of the hype around AI has focused on its potential to automate tasks and eliminate jobs, the intersection of AI and data cooperatives could allow for the development of smart hand tools that support and empower, rather than subjugate or replace, skilled trade workers. This paper explores smart hand tools as an emancipatory technology (ET) through interviews with supervisors of skilled trade workers employed by a municipal government. This paper responds to the call for additional research on how AI will influence work and workers and suggests that technology can enable skilled trade workers with new levels of agency.