Toward a Labor History of AI

Abstract Something is happening with labor and AI. Whether or not what is happening is actually historically novel, many claims about AI and its effects assert its novelty and claim something about this novelty will cause profound economic, sociopolitical, or even species-level crises. The special feature on AI and labor in this issue of ILWCH offers resources to digest those claims and to make counterclaims. The issue aims to provide more useful depictions of what is happening and what it means and to open up new directions for research.