R4: AI and self-exploitation

Initial version of the challenge

At the outset, the challenge is linked to a growing concern about the impact of artificial intelligence on the way young people learn, work and demand of themselves. The concern is framed in terms of use: dependence on the tools, pressure to use them constantly, the need to go faster, to produce more and better.

AI is perceived as an opportunity, but also as a source of tension: it facilitates tasks, but at the same time generates a sense of constant pressure. If it can be done faster, it seems it must be done. If it can be done better, not doing so feels like falling behind.

Reformulation from collective work

AI is no longer understood as a neutral tool but becomes part of an infrastructure that reorganises rhythms, expectations and forms of value: it accelerates processes, reduces time and redefines what is considered sufficient. This generates a new form of self-exploitation, more subtle: it is no longer imposed solely from the outside, but internalised as the norm.

In this sense, the malaise is not individual, but an indicator of the system: fatigue, saturation or a feeling of not being able to keep up are not personal failings, but responses to environments designed to constantly optimise performance.

The central question thus transforms from ‘how to best use AI’ to ‘how to prevent AI from reinforcing logics of self-exploitation and constant acceleration, and how it could contribute to more sustainable models of relating to time, work and learning’.

Key aspects

From tool to system

From individual management to structural condition

From efficiency to demand

From support to self-exploitation

From productivity to boundary control

From technical problem to political dilemma