Artificial intelligence is already changing how people are hired, managed and asked to work. But as new technologies enter workplaces at speed, the biggest question may not be whether machines will replace us. It may be what kind of work — and what kind of working lives — we want to protect.

This AI Conversations event brings award-winning Financial Times journalist and associate editor Sarah O’Connor to King’s to discuss her new book, We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work. Drawing on vivid reporting from workplaces already being reshaped by AI and automation, O’Connor asks what happens when technology does not simply change our jobs, but changes how work feels: its pace, creativity, fairness and sense of human connection.

The discussion will explore stories from translators editing AI output, graduates interviewed by software and warehouse workers surrounded by robots, as well as examples of technology being used to make work safer, better and more fulfilling. Rather than treating the future of work as inevitable, the event will ask how students, workers, researchers, employers and policymakers can help shape it.

Chaired by Damian Grimshaw, Professor of Employment Studies and Co-Lead of the King’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence’s AI and Workforce Futures programme, this event is designed for anyone interested in AI, work, technology, society and the choices ahead. No technical background is needed — just curiosity about how AI is changing working life and what a more human future of work could look like.

Register on Eventbrite to attend this in-person event.

This event forms part of the King's AI and Workforce Futures programme which brings together the university’s world‑leading AI research, policy expertise, employer partnerships and interdisciplinary strengths to shape how the UK prepares for the future of work.

Disclaimer: For in-person events we operate a policy of overbooking, given drop-out rates. Please ensure you arrive in good time to avoid disappointment on the day.