Human Robots The Fight for the Future of Work

By: Sarah O'Connor

Published by David R. Godine Publisher, 2026-06-16

Automation was supposed to free us. Instead, what if it is turning us into robots? An investigation into the real impact of AI and automation on work--through the eyes of those living it.

From Czech subtitlers and Amazon warehouse strikers to ex-journalists in data farms, this is a vivid, urgent look at what happens when human labor becomes machine-compatible. Human Robots asks the question no algorithm can answer: what kind of future do we want for ourselves--and our souls?

Drawing on interviews, site visits, and lived experiences, the author illuminates abstract debates with real human stories. Taken together, they reveal that the dream of freedom through technology is being reversed. Rather than liberating people, many new systems impose faster, lonelier, and more micromanaged labor.

As Sarah O'Connor writes, "Automation was meant to do away with dull, dirty, dangerous tasks. It was meant to free us up for more interesting and creative work. So why was my notebook filling up with stories of good jobs turned bad, and bad jobs turned worse? These people were not being liberated by machines. Instead, they were being crunched into systems run by machines and paced by machines, in which important concepts such as fairness, intelligence, even human-ness itself, were being quietly redefined by machines. And that left me with a question. A question that prompted me to write this book. We think we're robotising our work, but what if we're actually robotising ourselves?"