Race against the machine - now knowledge work is also changing

(Image: Pixabay CC0) - OpenAI and the recently viral chatbot ChatGPT - in the course of the digital transformation, algorithms, database systems and artificial intelligence are increasingly taking over tasks that were previously performed by humans. What do these changes mean for employees? Peter Kels and Kai Dröge put it in perspective. Our working and professional world is characterized by a high proportion of knowledge-generating, -integrating and -coordinating activities, which are referred to as "knowledge work". Put more simply, knowledge workers are people whose main asset is knowledge, from teachers to nurses, programmers to lawyers. Until a few years ago, knowledge work was always considered a relatively well-protected area from automation, since cognitive services are required that could hardly be handled by a machine in the past. However, this image is now increasingly cracking, and not just since OpenAI and the recently viral chatbot ChatGPT. Beat Hauenstein: Peter Kels, you are the head of the project 'Knowledge Work in Digital Transformation'.