Future critical considerations for OD

Allan J Sim’s chapter critically explores the ethical, managerial, and societal consequences of artificial intelligence (AI)’s accelerating integration into human work. He argues that what we currently call AI is better understood as weak AI – sophisticated algorithms that mimic intelligence without understanding. Drawing on thinkers such as Weizenbaum and Crawford, Sim contrasts humanity’s analogue experience with AI’s binary logic, warning that the rush to adopt such systems risks ethical and social harm. The chapter highlights job displacement, bias, and surveillance as central dangers. While governments and corporations celebrate AI’s efficiency, Sim notes that productivity gains often translate into wealth concentration and worker redundancy. He illustrates this through Amazon’s biased recruitment algorithm and examples of AI-driven monitoring that threaten employee privacy and autonomy. Behind these technologies, he reveals a hidden labour force of low-paid data annotators in the Global South, whose exploitation sustains supposedly “autonomous” systems. Sim critiques management’s uncritical embrace of AI, arguing that opaque decision-making, discriminatory outputs, and flawed data undermine fairness and trust. The rhetoric of “relieving drudge work” often masks cost-cutting and workforce reduction. He calls for socially responsible AI guided by transparency, justice, and human dignity, echoing scholars such as Cheng and Liu. Concluding that AI is not intelligent but algorithmic, Sim insists that human ethical oversight must remain central. To allow machines to govern decisions without scrutiny, he warns, is to risk replacing moral reasoning with mechanistic logic – an outcome that threatens both workers and the integrity of management itself.