Artificial Coworkers: What Happens When Your New Colleague Is a Machine?

RAP Lab News

AI systems used to sit quietly in the background, running processes nobody thought much about. That’s changing fast. Today’s AI agents make decisions, manage tasks, and talk directly to staff and customers, taking on roles that look less like a tool and more like a colleague. That shift raises a question most organizations haven’t had to answer before: how do you manage a workforce that includes artificial agents as coworkers?

Prof. Shane Saunderson, Director of the RAP Lab, is tackling that question head-on at the 2026 Digital Futures Symposium, with a talk titled “Artificial Coworkers: Working Alongside a New Kind of Employee.” Drawing on the lab’s research into humanlike technology, robotics, and AI, the talk looks at what it actually means to collaborate with an artificial agent, rather than simply deploy one.

The talk digs into both the practical and psychological sides of the shift: how trust, communication, and accountability change when a “colleague” is artificial, what expectations employees and managers should set going in, and what organizations need to get right now to prepare for a workforce that blends human and artificial contributors. It’s a direct extension of RAP Lab’s broader mission, understanding how people relate to humanlike and intelligent systems once those systems show up in real workplaces, not just in demos.

Event details

• Talk: Artificial Coworkers: Working Alongside a New Kind of Employee
• Speaker: Prof. Shane Saunderson, Director, RAP Lab
• Date: August 5 to 6, 2026
• Time: 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM
• Venue: Smith Toronto, 30th Floor, 200 Front Street West, Toronto

About the Digital Futures 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. The one-day event is built to bridge emerging research and real-world organizational challenges, bringing together academic and industry perspectives on how data, AI, and evolving business models are reshaping organizations, leadership, and society through keynotes, panels, and interactive sessions.

Attendees can expect practical perspectives on creating value through data-driven and AI-enabled products and processes, direct engagement with researchers and industry peers, and insight into how organizations can build long-term AI readiness through applied research, talent development, and experimentation. The symposium is aimed at professionals who are future-oriented and committed to understanding not just emerging technologies, but their broader implications for leadership, workforce transformation, and long-term value creation.

RAP Lab, Toronto and McMaster