Session
Designing Work for Human-AI Systems
What should humans do, what should AI do, and how should the system work as a whole?
PAWorld26 San Francisco · 23–24 September 2026 · San Francisco
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– · Plenary
About this session
The rise of AI changes the unit of workforce planning. Instead of asking only how many people and skills the organisation needs, leaders must examine the work itself: the outcomes, tasks, hand-offs, decision rights and controls through which value is created. Drawing on Prasad Setty's experience building People Analytics at Google and his current advisory and teaching work, this conversation will distinguish labour substitution from genuine work redesign, explore what should remain human or become augmented or automated, and consider the implications for capacity, careers, trust and accountability.
Learning outcomes
- Frame AI as a work-design and operating-model question.
- Identify the decisions required before automating or augmenting a workflow.
- Recognise the human and organisational consequences that must be designed alongside technology.
This session will explore
- Why jobs and headcount are no longer sufficient units for planning.
- The difference between labour substitution and redesigning a work system.
- How leaders can allocate work across people, technology and AI.
- The implications for capacity, careers, accountability and human agency.
Context
A strategic fireside that establishes the Work Design question for the event.
Speakers and contributors
David GreenFacilitatorManaging Partner & Executive DirectorInsight222
Prasad SettyGuestFormer VP, Digital Work Experience · GoogleIndependent