The ILR School's Center for Applied Research on Work (CAROW) recently awarded three seed grants for new research that addresses questions around the intersection of AI and organizations, employment and work.
These AI and Work seed grants were made possible by a generous gift from ILR alumnus Robert Bluestein, '67.
Seed Grant Awardees & Project Descriptions:
Project Title: The Effects of Labor Relations Institutions and Generative AI on Job Attraction: An Inter-Industry Experiment
Project Team: John McCarthy, Global Labor and Work, Cornell ILR; Michael Maffie, Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan, School of Hotel Administration
Project Description: This project will examine how job seekers respond to expectations for generative AI (GenAI) communicated in job advertisements. Specifically, it asks whether organizational characteristics - such as union presence, labor-management partnerships, and strong cultures of employee voice and fairness - make prospective hires more receptive to roles that require GenAI use.
The project also investigates the mechanisms behind these reactions: do perceptions of voice, fairness, and job security explain how job seekers respond to GenAI expectations? And do these patterns shift across industries and roles that face different levels of automation risk?
By clarifying how labor relations institutions shape attitudes toward emerging technology, the study aims to help organizations develop more effective recruitment strategies in an AI-driven labor market.
Project Title: AI and Worker Voice Convening
Project Team: Zoe West, Worker Institute; Sanjay Pinto, Worker Institute fellow; Aiha Nguyen, Data & Society; Alexandra Mateescu, Data & Society; Virginia Doellgast, ILR School; Joy Ming, SUNY Buffalo
Project Description: This project will bring together researchers, labor advocates, and practitioners to examine how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping work across sectors and to share the strategies that workers, unions and advocates are using to assert worker voice in AI governance.
While AI is often promoted as improving efficiency and decision-making, its impacts on job quality, worker voice, and employment conditions raise important concerns. This convening will foster cross-sector dialogue on organizing, bargaining and policy strategies that protect workers' interests, particularly in industries facing funding pressures and workforce shortages. By centering worker perspectives in conversations about AI governance, the convening aims to advance equitable, democratic, and worker-informed approaches to AI implementation.
Project Title: The Role of Creativity Biases in Shaping Human-AI Collaboration and Creativity at Work
Project Team: Dr. Brian Lucas, Organizational Behavior, Cornell ILR; Rene Kizilcec, Information Science, Cornell Bowers CIS
Project Description: This project explores how AI tools, such as ChatGPT, can transform creative work processes. While generative AI can enhance individual creativity, research suggests it may also reduce idea diversity across groups.
This project investigates how well‑documented creativity and decision-making biases influence how workers engage with AI during idea generation. Through a series of experiments, we will test whether these biases persist in AI‑assisted contexts and whether AI systems can be designed to mitigate them. By identifying how psychological biases shape human-AI collaboration, this research aims to inform the development of AI tools that promote both individual creativity and collective diversity of ideas in the workplace.
Julie Greco is the director of communications for the ILR School.
