Your Boss Is an Algorithm

Robots, algorithms and online platforms are changing how people work, and this book examines those changes through case studies and examples from the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. It reviews the regulatory options open to policymakers and sketches a fresh framework for an era of rapid digital advancement.

The author addresses platform work and the gig economy, along with artificial intelligence, algorithmic management and digital surveillance in workplaces. These technologies are reshaping the labour market and placing strain on social institutions. Rather than predicting that machines will make human work obsolete, the book argues that digital tools are more likely to replace managerial roles and intensify organisational processes than to cause mass job displacement.

The book raises several questions: can flexibility and worker protection be reconciled so that legal frameworks still support innovation, how can the far-reaching power of AI-enabled monitoring be checked, how likely is the gig-economy model to become an organising principle across industries, and what can social partners and political actors do to put effective regulation in place. Its central position is that technology is never neutral and must be governed so that progress benefits the many. Digital transformation can help in settings from warehouses to offices, but it should be judged on its social and political sustainability, not only on its economic convenience. The book serves as a guide to these developments, their promises and their dangers.