Chapter 09 · Sustainability & AISustainability & AI
Automation
Definition
The use of technology to perform tasks with reduced human intervention, from mechanised physical work to software executing cognitive tasks.
References
This source provides part of the technical or institutional basis for the definition.
This source supports the explanation of how the term is applied, measured or governed in practice.
Overview
What it means
Each automation wave reshapes employment; the AI wave is distinctive for reaching cognitive work. The ILO's 2023 global analysis found generative AI more likely to augment than replace most jobs, with clerical work most exposed and exposure concentrated in higher-income economies.
How it is used
In sustainability domains, automation spans factory efficiency, precision agriculture, building control and — increasingly — knowledge work such as data collection and report drafting, changing the labour content of the green transition itself.
Why it matters
Automation is where AI meets the just transition: who gains, whose tasks disappear, and how benefits are shared are distributional questions, not technical ones. The ILO evidence supports transition planning rather than either complacency or alarm.