SOCIAL SCIENCE PERSPECTIVES ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE–ENABLED AUTOMATION OF COMPLEX ORGANIZATIONAL TASKS

Abstract

The rapid and pervasive integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into complex, non-routine organizational tasks represents a paradigmatic shift in the structuring of work, authority, and professional identity. While dominant managerial and technical narratives often frame this transition through reductive lenses of economic efficiency, friction reduction, or technical optimization, AI-enabled automation is fundamentally a social, institutional, and political phenomenon. Drawing upon the rich theoretical traditions of sociotechnical systems theory and the sociology of professions, this analysis directs attention toward the subtle yet profound ways in which algorithmic systems reconfigure professional judgment, redistribute decision-making authority, and alter the very mechanisms of organizational meaning-making. The automation of complex tasks does not merely substitute human labor with machine execution; rather, it transforms the epistemic basis of expertise—shifting it from tacit, embodied knowledge to explicit, codified data—and relocates the locus of organizational control from the professional to the technical infrastructure. By moving beyond techno-centric explanations that view technology as a neutral tool, a critical social science framework is established for understanding the profound institutional consequences of algorithmic mediation in high-stakes organizational environments, revealing how the pursuit of computational rationality often undermines the social fabric essential for organizational resilience.