From Future of Work to Future of Workers: Addressing Asymptomatic AI Harms for Dignified Human-AI Interaction

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Ehsan, Upol, Passi, Samir, Saha, Koustuv, McNutt, Todd, Riedl, Mark O., Alcorn, Sara
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2026
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author Ehsan, Upol
Passi, Samir
Saha, Koustuv
McNutt, Todd
Riedl, Mark O.
Alcorn, Sara
author_facet Ehsan, Upol
Passi, Samir
Saha, Koustuv
McNutt, Todd
Riedl, Mark O.
Alcorn, Sara
contents In the future of work discourse, AI is touted as the ultimate productivity amplifier. Yet, beneath the efficiency gains lie subtle erosions of human expertise and agency. This paper shifts focus from the future of work to the future of workers by navigating the AI-as-Amplifier Paradox: AI's dual role as enhancer and eroder, simultaneously strengthening performance while eroding underlying expertise. We present a year-long study on the longitudinal use of AI in a high-stakes workplace among cancer specialists. Initial operational gains hid ``intuition rust'': the gradual dulling of expert judgment. These asymptomatic effects evolved into chronic harms, such as skill atrophy and identity commoditization. Building on these findings, we offer a framework for dignified Human-AI interaction co-constructed with professional knowledge workers facing AI-induced skill erosion without traditional labor protections. The framework operationalizes sociotechnical immunity through dual-purpose mechanisms that serve institutional quality goals while building worker power to detect, contain, and recover from skill erosion, and preserve human identity. Evaluated across healthcare and software engineering, our work takes a foundational step toward dignified human-AI interaction futures by balancing productivity with the preservation of human expertise.
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id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_21920
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle From Future of Work to Future of Workers: Addressing Asymptomatic AI Harms for Dignified Human-AI Interaction
Ehsan, Upol
Passi, Samir
Saha, Koustuv
McNutt, Todd
Riedl, Mark O.
Alcorn, Sara
Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
Computers and Society
In the future of work discourse, AI is touted as the ultimate productivity amplifier. Yet, beneath the efficiency gains lie subtle erosions of human expertise and agency. This paper shifts focus from the future of work to the future of workers by navigating the AI-as-Amplifier Paradox: AI's dual role as enhancer and eroder, simultaneously strengthening performance while eroding underlying expertise. We present a year-long study on the longitudinal use of AI in a high-stakes workplace among cancer specialists. Initial operational gains hid ``intuition rust'': the gradual dulling of expert judgment. These asymptomatic effects evolved into chronic harms, such as skill atrophy and identity commoditization. Building on these findings, we offer a framework for dignified Human-AI interaction co-constructed with professional knowledge workers facing AI-induced skill erosion without traditional labor protections. The framework operationalizes sociotechnical immunity through dual-purpose mechanisms that serve institutional quality goals while building worker power to detect, contain, and recover from skill erosion, and preserve human identity. Evaluated across healthcare and software engineering, our work takes a foundational step toward dignified human-AI interaction futures by balancing productivity with the preservation of human expertise.
title From Future of Work to Future of Workers: Addressing Asymptomatic AI Harms for Dignified Human-AI Interaction
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Artificial Intelligence
Computers and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.21920