Ideas: Steering AI toward the work future we want

Behind every emerging technology is a great idea propelling it forward. In the Microsoft Research Podcast series Ideas, members of the research community at Microsoft discuss the beliefs that animate their research, the experiences and thinkers that inform it, and the positive human impact it targets. Since 2020, researchers across Microsoft have conducted, surfaced, and analyzed key research into how people work as part of the New Future of Work research initiative. They’ve done this through a variety of lenses—from changes caused by the pandemic to the adoption of hybrid work practices to the arrival of increasingly capable AI models—with the goal of empowering people and organizations to redefine work in real time. In this episode, Microsoft Chief Scientist and Technical Fellow Jaime Teevan talks with researchers Jenna Butler, Jake Hofman, and Rebecca Janssen about the latest efforts: the Microsoft New Future of Work Report 2025. The group explores what the report says about AI’s adoption and impact, the intentionality needed to create a future in which people flourish, and current perceptions around AI use. Plus, is AI a tool or a collaborator? And why the answer matters. Subscribe to the Microsoft Research Podcast: Transcript [MUSIC] JAIME TEEVAN: Really what we’ve been living through, it’s not that, like, every year work is changing in a generational manner. It’s much more that we are in the middle of a really big shift in sort of how digital technology can support people getting things done. JENNA BUTLER: It is not predetermined. The future of work is actively being built by us, by consumers. I love that. JAKE HOFMAN: It’s easy for us to say, let’s get everyone to adopt and let’s boost efficiency. Let’s make everything really quick, right. But I don’t think that that’s actually the future, like, we want to live in. REBECCA JANSSEN: We keep benchmarking against the past. So what can AI do, or can AI do what we already do? And I think this is, like, a mistake or maybe only the first step and the more important step comes next. STANDARD INTRODUCTION: You’re listening to Ideas, a Microsoft Research Podcast that dives deep into the world of technology research and the profound questions behind the code. [MUSIC FADES] JAIME TEEVAN: Hi, I’m Jaime Teevan, chief scientist and technical fellow at Microsoft, and today, we’re going to talk about the new future of work. So back in 2020, researchers from across Microsoft came together to try to make sense of this seismic shift in work practices that was happening as a result of the pandemic, and the next year, the group published the very first New Future of Work report. Microsoft has been publishing a new report every year since with no shortages of disruptions and major technological shifts in between. Joining me today to explore the latest report are my colleagues, Jenna Butler, Jake Hofman, and Rebecca Janssen, who are a few of the many authors on the report. Jenna, Jake, Rebecca, welcome to the podcast.…