RAP Lab Director Prof. Shane Saunderson will be speaking at the 2026 Digital Futures Symposium, presenting on Artificial Coworkers: Working Alongside a New Kind of Employee.
As AI systems move beyond passive tools and take on increasingly active roles within organizations — making decisions, managing tasks, and interacting directly with staff and customers — a new question is emerging for leaders: how do you manage a workforce that includes artificial agents as coworkers? Prof. Saunderson’s talk digs into exactly that, drawing on RAP Lab’s research into humanlike technology, robotics, and AI to explore what it actually means to collaborate with — rather than simply deploy — an artificial agent.
The talk will look at the practical and psychological dimensions of this shift: how trust, communication, and accountability change when a “colleague” is artificial, what expectations employees and managers should set, and what organizations need to get right now to prepare for a workforce that blends human and artificial contributors. It’s a timely complement to RAP Lab’s broader mission of understanding how people relate to humanlike and intelligent systems in real-world settings.
Event details
- Talk: Artificial Coworkers: Working Alongside a New Kind of Employee
- Speaker: Prof. Shane Saunderson, Director, RAP Lab
- Date: August 5–6, 2026
- Time: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM
- Venue: Smith Toronto, 30th Floor, 200 Front Street West, Toronto
About the Symposium
The Digital Futures Symposium is co-hosted by the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, Ivey Business School at Western University, and the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, and is designed to bridge the gap between emerging research and real-world organizational challenges. Through keynote presentations, panel discussions, and interactive sessions, this one-day event brings together academic and industry perspectives on how data, AI, and evolving business models are transforming organizations, leadership, and society.
Attendees can expect fresh perspectives on creating strategic and operational value through data-driven and AI-enabled products and processes, direct engagement with leading researchers and industry peers, and insight into how organizations can partner with academia to build long-term AI readiness through applied research, talent development, and experimentation.
The symposium is aimed at professionals who are future-oriented, intellectually curious, and committed to understanding not just emerging technologies, but their broader implications for leadership, organizations, workforce transformation, and long-term value creation.
Register for the 2026 Digital Futures Symposium »
RAP Lab — Toronto/McMaster