Philosophy Seminars - Digital Technologies, Critique and Society II
“Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work”
Time: 15:00 - 16.30
Speaker: Arif Koşar
Moderator: Emre Şan
A kind of mysticism that emerges with artificial intelligence is a critical component of techno-fetishistic thinking. When viewed superficially and detached from its social context and relationships, expectations from artificial intelligence can become utopian or dystopian. However, when artificial intelligence and new technologies are recalled to the ground of reality as a dimension of human agency, and their social bonds and relationships are taken into account, understanding their effects becomes more possible. The future of work, one of the prominent topics in the ongoing debate surrounding artificial intelligence, must be considered precisely in this context of social contradictions, relationships, hierarchies, and power relations. In this way, the increasing precariousness in employment and work relations, unemployment, surveillance/control, and income distribution inequality will become more understandable, despite the contemporary AI ideology shaped by the promise of liberation from work, prosperity, and high productivity. This is certainly a process that is conditioned by superior determinants, including technology, and thus encompasses different possibilities and probabilities, rather than being a technological necessity.
Arif Koşar completed his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering, and his master's and Ph.D. in the Department of Labor Economics at Marmara University. He is the author of the books Robotlar İşimizi Elimizden Alacak mı? ("Will Robots Take Our Jobs?") (2022, 2023) and Negri, Sınıf ve Çokluk ("Negri, Class, and Multitude") (2017, 2019). He edited the books Yapay Zekâ ve İşin Geleceği ("Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work") (2025), Maddi Olmayan Emek ("Immaterial Labor") (2018), and Türkiye’de Esnek Çalışma ("Flexible Work in Turkey") (co-edited with Özgür Müftüoğlu, 2014). He teaches in the New Media and Communication Department at Yaşar University. He continues his work on artificial intelligence, new technologies, working life, political economy, and class analysis.
* The event will take place at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Conference Hall.
* The seminar will be held in Turkish. To attend this seminar, you can create your registration by using the "Register" button on the page and receive your free event invitation. Registrations will open 1 week before the event date (11.04.2025, at 15:00) and the "Register" button will become visible. Participation is limited to a quota of 80 people.
* Participants who have completed the event registration and received their invitation are kindly requested to be at the venue at least 15 minutes before the event. The doors will be closed at the event starting time.