Organization Science · 2023 · 302 citations · 111 references
Social SciencesOrganization StudiesOrganizational BehaviorArtificial IntelligenceEthnographyOrganizationsComputer-supported Cooperative WorkEthnographic ResearchOrganizational EthnographyCounterpart TheoryHuman-machine CollaborationRelational EthnographyRelational WorkTechnology Use In Organizations
Media hype about AI–human collaboration has led organizations to invest heavily in developing and deploying AI. The paper seeks to redefine how work with AI is studied by framing AI as a counterpart within a work system and advocating for relational ethnographic inquiry. The authors draw on prior literature to examine AI–user interactions through lenses that view technology as both a tool and a medium, and they propose a counterpart perspective that incorporates design, implementation, and use. They contend that relational ethnographic methods can help organization theorists navigate the methodological challenges of this counterpart view and outline several future research strategies. The study was partially funded by the EU Horizon 2020 program (grant 951735).
In the wake of media hype about artificial intelligence (AI)/human collaboration, organizations are investing considerable resources into developing and using AI. In this paper, we draw on theories of technology in organizations to frame new directions for the study of what it means to work “with” AI. Drawing on prior literature, we consider how interactions between users and AI might unfold through theoretical lenses which cast technology as a tool and as a medium. Reflecting on how AI technologies diverge from technologies studied in the past, we propose a new perspective, which considers technology as a counterpart in a system of work that includes its design, implementation, and use. This perspective encourages developing a grounded understanding of how AI intersects with work, and therefore ethnography, building on thick descriptions, is an apt approach. We argue that relational ethnographic approaches can assist organization theorists in navigating the methodological challenges of taking a counterpart perspective and propose several strategies for future research. Funding: The research was partially funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 951735.
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