AI and Your Time at Work

In this episode

What does AI really mean for jobs, productivity, and the future of work?
 

Recorded with a live audience at the MIT Museum!


In this special live taping of the CSAIL Alliances Podcast, host Kara Miller explores big questions on AI and the future of work with two MIT researchers leading research on technology and labor—David Autor, MIT economist and coauthor of The Work of the Future, and Neil Thompson, Director of MIT FutureTech.
Together, they unpack what the evidence actually says about AI and work—cutting through hype, fear, and speculation. The conversation explores how AI is reshaping tasks (not just jobs), why productivity gains have been uneven, and what history can teach us about today’s moment. From software development and medicine to insurance, law, and gig work, Autor and Thompson explain when AI acts as a powerful collaborator—and when full automation simply isn’t realistic or cost-effective.
 

Topics include:

  • Why “AI exposure” doesn’t automatically mean job loss
  • How automation can raise wages in some roles while lowering them in others
  • The risks of over-reliance on AI and declining human expertise
  • Why design and economics—not just technology—shape AI’real-world impact
  • What an aging workforce and declining immigration mean for AI adoption


This episode offers a grounded, thoughtful look at how AI is actually being used today—and what that means for workers, organizations, and society going forward.
 

More CSAIL Content

About the speakers

David Autor
Professor of Economics, MIT

David Autor is the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor in the MIT Department of Economics, codirector of the NBER Labor Studies Program and the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative. His scholarship explores the labor-market impacts of technological change and globalization on job polarization, skill demands, earnings levels and inequality, and electoral outcomes. 

Learn More
Learn More
Neil Thompson
Principal Research Scientist, MIT CSAIL

Neil Thompson is an innovation scholar with appointments as a Principal Research Scientist at CSAIL and as a Visiting Professor at Harvard.  His research focuses on 4 topics:

  • Computer Performance and Economic Outcomes
  • Tools and Innovation
  • Patenting & Licensing
  • Executing on Innovation and Strategy

He did his PhD in Business and Public Policy at Berkeley, where he also did Masters degrees in Computer Science and Statistics. He has a Master's in Economics from the London School of Economics, and undergraduate degrees in Physics and International Development. Prior to academia, he worked at organizations such as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Bain and Company, The United Nations, the World Bank, and the Canadian Parliament.

Learn More
Spotlight: Neil Thompson
Podcast: Exploring Changes in Computing as Moore's Law Ends with Neil Thompson