PI: Anuli Akanegbu, PhD

As AI becomes embedded in everyday workplace tools, “AI literacy” is increasingly treated as a baseline requirement for employability. But what actually counts as an AI skill—and who gets to decide?

In her recent report, (404) Job Not Found*, Anuli Akanegbu, cultural anthropologist offers the first on-the-ground ethnographic look at how AI-related skills are defined, taught, and valued across Atlanta’s rapidly expanding tech economy. Drawing on interviews, field observations, and historical analysis, she traces how AI is framed in universities, promoted by industry, implemented by government, and interpreted by Black workers and community leaders navigating workforce systems.

Join Anuli Akanegbu and special guests for a public conversation about what AI means for workers in the United States right now and how the promises of “AI literacy,” upskilling, and reskilling are reshaping access to opportunities in an era of accelerating automation. The program will feature a mini job fair with tabling opportunities for local organizations to promote open roles to job seekers. *The report was published by Data & Society, a nonprofit research and policy institute, with support provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.