In a rapidly growing economy of collective work, workers often face a number of problems - unstable incomes, lack of traditional employment benefits and limited negotiating opportunities. However, researchers at Northeastern University are striving to equip freelancers and contractors with powerful artificial intelligence tools that will help organize, analyze problems and implement solutions for fairer work in the future.

"Creating reliable solutions based on artificial intelligence that will allow the collective actions of workers to pave the way for a fair and ethical economy based on fair wages, humane working conditions and increased job security," says Saif Savage, associate professor and director of the Civilian Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Northeastern University.

The Savage team has created three new artificial intelligence tools - GigSousveillance, GigSense and GigAction - to help employees working on platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Instacart and Upwork. Drawing on extensive language models and ideas from social theory, these "smart assistants" help workers in data collection, problem analysis, solution development, and collective bargaining strategies.

"At Northeastern, we are developing a variety of artificial intelligence tools that can help workers in their collective actions to fight for better opportunities," Savage explains. "These tools strengthen the collective opinion of employees and their ability to negotiate."

• GigSousveillance allows employees to collect and measure work-related data to quantify the extent of workplace dissatisfaction.
   
• GigSense then helps them interpret this data using an interactive AI assistant, developing strategic solutions tailored to their situation.
   
• GigAction helps employees implement these solutions by facilitating the coordination of efforts and campaigns to implement meaningful changes, coordinated with companies engaged in saving resources.

"We pay great attention to helping them identify the key points that they should discuss," Savage says. "What are the main problems that they should strive to solve collectively, as well as what they should strive to negotiate with companies."

The tools were developed through extensive interviews and collaborative design sessions with employees of companies working on platforms such as Upwork, Amazon Mechanical Turk and Toloka. The Savage team sought to understand the pressing problems in the workplace and the needs for creating AI assistants.
While the business economy offers flexibility and economic opportunities, it has also been criticized for depriving workers of basic rights, wages and protection in the workplace. The political battles are intensifying: Massachusetts recently sued Uber and Lyft over the classification of employment, and the companies threaten to withdraw from the market if drivers become employees.

For Savage, equipping company employees with data-driven organizational tools using artificial intelligence is about strengthening conscious autonomy in the face of such acute disputes.

"The whole point is to provide the company's employees with the tools to make the most informed decisions using the largest amount of data," she says.
Using the analytical abilities of big language models and basing strategies on social theory, AI assistants strive to strengthen the collective identity of employees and inspire them to negotiate, which will benefit the team as a whole.

Looking to the future, Civic AI Lab is exploring expansion opportunities through social media to enhance their adoption and impact. "We're embedding them into our platforms," Savage says of scaling collective action with carefully designed AI support.

As the concern economy becomes more sustainable, Northeastern researchers are striving to balance its convenience with ethical standards through intelligent technologies that empower workers. Their set of AI organizers can help rethink what it means to be a professional worker in the 21st century.