The Guardian last week announced the launch of a new editorial series examining how artificial intelligence is transforming work and power across the United States and around the world. The year-long reporting project, Reworked, will place workers – not tech executives or abstract forecasts – at the centre of one of the defining economic shifts of our time.
Building on the Guardian’s coverage of technology’s human impact, the series will interrogate the binary narrative about AI that dominates public discourse – that it will either usher in mass joblessness or pose little to no threat at all – and document how millions of Americans across industries are already working with, or being managed by, AI-driven systems, including how those systems are reshaping their livelihoods, agency and futures in real time.
From Amazon warehouses and hospitals to Hollywood writers’ rooms, offices and docks, AI is influencing scheduling, HR disciplinary procedures, pay, promotion and creative output. The Guardian says its reporting will highlight both the challenges, and successes, of these AI-driven systems, while asking a central question: who has the power to decide how these tools are deployed, and whose interests do they ultimately serve?
Led by Samantha Oltman –editor and former editor-in-chief of Recode, editorial director at Vox and co-host of Good Luck Media’s investigative podcast, Sabotage – the Guardian’s Reworked series will deliver on-the-ground reporting and commentary from across the US and beyond, exploring topics including how tech’s new era of endless work is a warning for the rest of us and how anxiety around AI, whether warranted or not, is shifting career ambitions.
The Guardian says Reworked is made possible in part by philanthropic support from theguardian.org – an independent 501(c)3 dedicated to supporting independent journalism – in partnership with the Omidyar Network. All reporting published by the Guardian remains editorially independent.
Samantha Oltman, the Guardian’s AI and work editor, said: “Artificial intelligence is often discussed as if it were an unstoppable force moving through society on its own terms. In reality, it is being implemented through specific workplace decisions made by employers, executives and lawmakers. Those decisions shape who benefits, who bears the risk, who has a voice – and deserve to be scrutinized. By focusing on workers’ lived experiences rather than the hype and anxiety around AI, we can better understand how AI is altering the workplace and what meaningful agency can look like in this evolving environment.”
Nicole Kotzen, executive director of theguardian.org and senior vice-president of development at the Guardian, said: “Theguardian.org exists to ensure that consequential stories – especially those shaping the future of our democracy and economy – receive the sustained, in-depth reporting they deserve. Support from philanthropy allows us to back ambitious projects like Reworked, so the Guardian can examine how AI is transforming workers’ lives with rigor, independence and urgency.”
Michele L Jawando, president of the Omidyar Network, said: “The AI revolution is fundamentally about power – who gets to decide how these tools reshape work, and whose interests they serve. Independent journalism that centres the voices of working people is essential to ensuring our digital future is steered by our shared humanity. We’re proud to partner with the Guardian and theguardian.org on this critical new reporting project.”
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