{"id":717493,"date":"2021-01-25T07:40:51","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T15:40:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/?post_type=msr-project&p=717493"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:40:27","slug":"the-new-future-of-work","status":"publish","type":"msr-project","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/project\/the-new-future-of-work\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Future of Work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The New Future of Work<\/h1>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The New Future of Work is a cross-company research initiative dedicated to creating solutions for a future of work that is meaningful, productive, and equitable. It began during the pandemic in response to an urgent need to understand remote work practices<\/a>. When many people returned to the office, the focus shifted to supporting the hybrid work transition<\/a>. Then in 2023, another generational shift in work occurred when language models made the leap<\/a> from the lab into the real world, a shift that could make the changes to remote and hybrid work look small by comparison. In 2024, our focus shifted to defining and measuring the real-world impact of new generative AI tools<\/a> on the workplace. Now in 2025 and beyond, we are looking at how AI can make all of us, collectively, better, by studying and building AI for communication, teams and learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of work with AI is not a foregone conclusion, and this initiative exists to not just study work with AI, but to help Microsoft build a new future of work with AI that empowers every person and every organization on the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This site features research from the initiative as well as resources to help our customers and ourselves navigate a rapidly changing work environment and thrive in the age of AI. We recently published our 2025 Report (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/strong> (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> that summarizes some of the exciting work in this space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AI Diffusion Report from the AI Economy Institute (AIEI)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

AI is the fastest-spreading technology in history\u2014but not for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore the AI Economy Institute\u2019s latest report on global adoption, the forces driving diffusion, and the barriers that could shape who benefits from AI for decades to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read the report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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TED Talk by Advait Sarkar<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Chatbots might help you get work done faster \u2014 but at what cost? When we outsource our reasoning to artificial intelligence, we reduce ourselves to \u201cmiddle managers for our own thoughts,\u201d says AI and design researcher Advait Sarkar. He examines the cognitive trade-offs of using AI at work and introduces a different kind of tool: one that encourages critical thinking, nudges reflection and actually helps you get smarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watch the video<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
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Education in the AI Economy: meet the 2025 cohort<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The AI Economy Institute (AIEI) launched its second cohort of researchers, advancing its mission to understand and accelerate the responsible diffusion of artificial intelligence (AI) across economies, industries, and communities. This year\u2019s theme\u2014Education in the AI Economy\u2014places diffusion at the heart of our inquiry: how does AI adoption spread in the classroom, how students and educators benefit, and how we can design a future where opportunity is intentionally distributed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meet the cohort<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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AI and the New Future of Work CFP | Spring 2024<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Language models are fundamentally changing how work gets done, and high-quality academic research is needed to ensure that the new future of work that they will help create is bright. We awarded five recipients for this CFP that received over 160 submissions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meet the winners<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>
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WorkLab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

WorkLab is a Microsoft site that builds on the research here to deliver stories and science-based insights on how to connect more, create more, and unlock ingenuity. It includes pieces on performance in the age of AI<\/a> and how generative AI will transform work<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visit the WorkLab site<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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This cross-company initiative is dedicated to creating solutions for a future of work that is meaningful, productive, and equitable. The focus has shifted from remote to hybrid to the role of artificial intelligence in changing work practices. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":718792,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","footnotes":""},"research-area":[13556,13554,13547],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-717493","msr-project","type-msr-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","msr-research-area-artificial-intelligence","msr-research-area-human-computer-interaction","msr-research-area-systems-and-networking","msr-locale-en_us","msr-archive-status-active"],"msr_project_start":"","related-publications":[157680,158810,158887,160640,160641,161213,161727,161765,162160,162299,162405,162661,163982,164579,245738,245756,285884,285902,286121,286136,467085,569046,579532,611934,611949,633603,636900,636909,638586,671679,672366,673401,673800,677265,686655,697267,697585,706840,717511,717517,718483,718981,718993,719005,719014,719026,719041,719047,720130,720520,722212,725065,728395,729043,730765,731875,737143,772330,794897,809032,820396,824293,826696,826735,833686,833704,833776,833893,834055,834067,834136,840265,841591,851446,857358,869961,876204,884598,889614,894237,898131,921873,923556,925965,926838,926943,927396,934245,935988,936108,936621,936759,940665,940674,945267,950808,953964,954237,956916,965220,971130,971928,973350,977235,978561,981003,989034,993909,996486,999801,1000449,1008525,1010463,1014123,1059921,1077624,1095732,1104276,1110786,1112670,1116936,1134742,1134757,1135044,1135061,1136631,1136635,1137954,1139162,1139299,1139962,1143413,1151497,1155619,1162665],"related-downloads":[],"related-videos":[795236,1156719,841441,841432,841423,841414,841405,841396,795299,795278,732388,795212,795176,795047,795038,795023,795014,795005,787105,787081],"related-groups":[619437,916890],"related-events":[654018],"related-opportunities":[],"related-posts":[765673,1167876,1167875,1157824,997734,994098,981456,941472,940410,648012,764161,763477,760093,757999,757099,756424,745669,733981],"related-articles":[],"tab-content":[],"slides":[],"related-researchers":[{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Jenna Butler","user_id":39979,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"jennbu"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Brent Hecht","user_id":38997,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"brhecht"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Sonia Jaffe","user_id":37664,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"sojaffe"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Kate Nowak","user_id":41656,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"kanowak"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Sean Rintel","user_id":33579,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"serintel"},{"type":"user_nicename","display_name":"Jaime Teevan","user_id":33975,"people_section":"Section name 0","alias":"teevan"}],"msr_research_lab":[],"msr_impact_theme":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/717493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-project"}],"version-history":[{"count":123,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/717493\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1162747,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-project\/717493\/revisions\/1162747"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/718792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=717493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=717493"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=717493"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=717493"},{"taxonomy":"msr-pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-pillar?post=717493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}