The advent of generative AI has raised a new wave of concern about what the rapid pace of automation will mean for workers who have already made substantial investments in skills. While workers can develop skills throughout their careers, what strategies will enable them to find sustainable labor market success? How can workers start their careers to maximize long run success?

The Block Center for Technology and Society in partnership with Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy will host a gathering to explore how automation and other emerging technologies are impacting modern career paths and how policy can promote sustainable skill formation. We will convene experts at the cutting edge of this research for a two-part, one-day conference. The first session will feature an academic mini-conference consisting of paper presentations by key experts. The second session will be open to the wider campus community, local policymakers, and the broader public, to convey the state of knowledge on the topic area to foster interactions between stakeholders and academic researchers.

Our goal is to push forward this conversation on how a skilled workforce can keep pace with the rapid technological advancement across industries. 

Speakers

John Horton

John Horton is an Associate Professor of Information Technologies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Horton's research focuses on the intersection of labor economics, market design, and information systems.

Lisa Kahn

Professor Kahn is the Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor in the Social Sciences and a Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester. Her work focuses on the impacts of recessions and technological change on workers and firms. She was previously an associate professor of economics at Yale School of Management. From 2010 to 2011 Kahn served on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers as the senior economist for labor and education policy. She holds an A.B. in economics from the University of Chicago (2003) and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University (2008).    

Brian Kovak

Kovak's research examines the labor market impacts of international trade, migration, and technological change. Dr. Kovak’s recent work concerns the long-run effects of trade liberalization on workers' employment and earnings, workers' geographic mobility in response to local economic shocks, and policies to support displaced workers. His research has been published in leading journals such as the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, and the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy.

Anna Salomons

Anna Salomons is an Instituut Gak endowed professor at Utrecht University’s School of Economics and a professor at Tilburg University's Department of Economics. She is also a Research Fellow at IZA, the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), the Technology & Policy Research Initiative at Boston University, the Block Center for Technology and Society at Carnegie Mellon University, and the Shaping the Future of Work Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.