ScenarioAdvanced AI economic transition and participation

Human Agency Preservation Specialist

Also called AGI Human Agency Specialist

A Human Agency Preservation Specialist would design ways for people to understand, question and influence decisions that AI systems make or inform. It depends on how AI develops, and nobody is hiring for it now.

What they do

The specialist would map where AI systems take over decisions that used to belong to people, in work, services and resource allocation. They would then design the routes people need to understand those decisions, appeal them and shape them. That could mean appeal procedures, worker and community panels, plain-language explanations and escalation paths to a human. They would test designs with the people affected, record where they fail, and rework them. They would also work with policy, legal, product and engineering teams, and with outside bodies such as unions, public agencies and community groups, so the designs survive contact with real systems.

What a strong hire delivers

In the first months, a strong hire would produce a clear map of the decisions where people most need a say. They would deliver a draft human-agency framework with named appeal and participation routes, and a first round of validation with the people those decisions affect. They would also give leadership a short list of weak points, with an honest view of which can be fixed in the product and which need institutional partners.

How you can tell they are good

Ask them to walk through a participation or appeal process they designed or ran, and what happened when real people used it. Strong candidates talk about who was heard and who was not, and show evidence of changed outcomes. Ask how they would test whether someone can genuinely contest a decision. Be wary of answers that stop at transparency statements or consultation for show.

Why it is hard to fill

If this role emerged, almost nobody would hold the title, so we would be recruiting on background and evidence. The work sits across economics, social policy, worker representation and technical systems, and few people have credibility in all of them. Those who understand participation often lack AI exposure. Technical people often lack institutional experience. Expect to hire for judgement and teach the rest.

Where to find them

Today the people closest to this work come from labour economics, social policy, worker representation and public administration. Look at policy researchers, trade union and worker voice specialists, ombudsman and complaints-handling teams, public service designers, and civil society groups running community participation programmes. Some come from think tanks, government departments, regulators and research institutes. Those with experience of automated decision systems in public services would be especially useful.

Interview questions for a Human Agency Preservation Specialist

  1. Tell us about a process you designed that let affected people challenge a decision. What changed because of it?

    A strong answer names a real process, who used it and a concrete outcome. They should admit what failed. Worry if they describe only the design, with no evidence anyone used it or that decisions moved.

  2. How would you test whether a person can meaningfully contest an AI-informed decision, rather than just file a complaint?

    Good answers define meaningful: understanding the basis, access to a human, a real chance of reversal. They propose testing with affected users. Worry about measuring only complaint volume or satisfaction scores.

4 more questions, with what a strong answer covers, are in the Role Kit.

Job description you can post

We are building systems that make or inform decisions about people's work and access to resources. We want someone to make sure those people can understand, contest and influence those decisions. You would design the structures, test them with the people affected and work with our teams to build them in.

What you will do

  • Map the decisions our systems influence where people most need a voice
  • Design appeal, escalation and participation routes
  • Write and maintain a human-agency framework
  • Run validation with users, workers and communities
  • Work with product, engineering, legal and policy teams on changes
  • Build relationships with worker groups, public bodies and community organisations
  • Report on where agency is weak and what would fix it

What you will bring

  • Demonstrated work designing or running participation, appeal or representation processes
  • Ability to assess whether people can genuinely contest a decision
  • Grounding in economics, social policy or public administration
  • Experience working with worker or community groups
  • Clear writing for non-specialist audiences
  • Comfort working with technical teams on automated systems

Nice to have

  • Experience with automated decision systems in public services
  • Work across institutions or countries
  • Scenario analysis or foresight experience

Free to use and adapt. If it saves you time, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Depends on a scenario

Large-scale restructuring of work and economic institutions

What AI would need to do
AI materially changes economically valuable task mixes across many sectors.
What organisations would need to decide
Institutions fund worker participation, distributional monitoring and transition programmes.
What would rule it out
Slow adoption or institutional inaction leaves these functions embedded in existing occupations.

We give no date. The role becomes real if both conditions hold.

Skills that matter

  • Public policy and economicsAdvancedAnalyse institutional choices and distributional effects
  • Worker and community participationAdvancedInclude affected workers and communities in decisions
  • Institutional and international coordinationWorkingAlign actors and processes across jurisdictions
  • Frontier scenario analysisWorkingExplore conditional outcomes without claiming predictions

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How we wrote this

Role definitions are our own editorial work, checked against occupational classifications, standards, research and employer pages. Titles vary by company, and this is a description of the work, not a job advert. Scenario roles describe responsibilities that depend on stated conditions; they are not forecasts.

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