Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping the future of work, but most research and applications have centered on white-collar workers and workplaces. Nordic Perspectives on Collaborative AI for Blue-collar Work (CAI-BLUE) project shifts the focus to blue-collar work, such as manufacturing, logistics, and maintenance. These work domains involve high levels of team-based, hands-on collaboration and are an important site to advance key Nordic societal values: inclusion, worker dignity, and social sustainability.
CAI-BLUE investigates how collaborative AI agents – adaptive, interactive systems that work alongside human teams – can support communication, learning, and shared understanding in blue-collar workplaces. Unlike AI systems focused on automation or surveillance, these agents are designed to empower workers: helping troubleshoot work task issues, facilitate multilingual communication, document complex processes, and provide context-aware feedback to both individual workers and teams. A central objective of CAI-BLUE is to create understanding of how AI adoption in blue-collar contexts can be fitting, feasible and ethically grounded. CAI-BLUE examines critical issues such as worker autonomy, technological acceptance, and the psychosocial effects of AI.
The research consortium brings together multiple disciplines from Tampere University, Aalborg University, NTNU and Stockholm University, covering the fields of human-computer interaction, workplace studies, and organisational psychology. The research will employ methods such as ethnography, conversation analysis, and design to create ecologically valid results about AI’s fit in the workplace. Through participatory design and real-world studies in collaboration with Nordic companies, the project explores how AI can enhance rather than disrupt everyday work.
The project will produce design guidelines, evaluation frameworks, and prototypes that contribute to a socially sustainable and responsible integration of AI in the Nordic workplace.
CAI-BLUE advances the field of Responsible AI by promoting AI systems that align with Nordic traditions of participation and inclusivity. Rather than replacing human activities, AI agents are designed to support workers’ communication, collaboration, shared cognition, and wellbeing – ensuring that technological progress can empower all kinds of workers.
Contacts
