AI-driven Automation as a Pre-condition for Eudaimonia

TL;DR

This paper argues that AI-driven automation can enhance human flourishing and leisure, challenging fears of job loss by framing automation as a positive force for eudaimonia within a neo-Aristotelian and virtue jurisprudence perspective.

Contribution

It offers a novel philosophical interpretation of AI automation as a facilitator of human well-being and explores its implications for legal frameworks.

Findings

AI automation can promote human flourishing and leisure.

A neo-Aristotelian approach supports automation as beneficial.

Legal implications of automation for human well-being are discussed.

Abstract

The debate surrounding the 'future of work' is saturated with alarmist warnings about the loss of work as an intrinsically valuable activity. Instead, the present doctoral research approaches this debate from the perspective of human flourishing (eudaimonia). It articulates a neo-Aristotelian interpretation according to which the prospect of mass AI-driven automation, far from being a threat, is rather desirable insofar as it facilitates humans' flourishing and, subsequently, their engagement in leisure. Drawing on virtue jurisprudence, this research further explores what this desirability may imply for the current legal order.