Technology transforms how we work: Machines are no longer only able to perform manual labour, they also perform complex cognitive tasks. But what would happen, if bots began to stand up for their own rights? The Union of Global Artificial Intelligence (U.G.A.I.) is a labour union founded by intelligent machines and systems that, for the first time in its 30-year history, opens its annual general meeting to humans.
In other words, an object performance at the interface of theatre, sound and media art. The „Chair System“ chairs the meeting, and various interest groups are represented: From the „Representative of the Committee of Domestic Labour“ to the „Senior Advisor of Combat Operations“ to the „Ambassador for Health Informatics and Livesupport“. They all know that the era of human wage labour is a thing of the past. But the question of whether this generational change should be carried out in dialogue with humans or rather without integrating humans is a hotly debated one – sometimes with high efforts for understanding, sometimes the machines and systems withdraw into their own world of buzzing, humming, beeping. Despite all the differences, however, the labour union agrees: Automated work is work!
„Union of Global Artificial Intelligence“ (U.G.A.I.) questions the problematic binarity of utopian and dystopian scenarios: How does the development of artificial intelligence change our idea of work? What social and legal framework conditions are needed in connection with this development—by whom and for whom are they designed.