Sarah O'Connor

Biography

Sarah O'Connor is a columnist, reporter and associate editor at the Financial Times. She writes a weekly column focused on the world of work, technology, economics and society, and co-authors a weekly newsletter about AI and the labour market, The AI Shift. Her work has examined how technological change is reshaping work, from the quality and meaning of people's roles to the broader impact of AI and automation on employment statistics and labour market trends.

The author of We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work, Sarah explores how technological change is reshaping work in both worrying and hopeful ways. The book draws from extensive reporting on the frontlines of technological disruption, examining how workers experience the impact of AI, from translators editing AI output to warehouse workers surrounded by automation. Sarah argues that technological change is not inevitable but shaped by policymakers, businesses and societies, and she demonstrates how some organisations have designed technology to make work safer, more creative and more human.

Sarah examines how work is evolving in an age of rapid technological change. She explores the intersection of demographic and migration trends with labour markets, how AI is reshaping the quality and meaning of work, and what evidence tells us about jobs lost and gained. She considers how technological change can be shaped by design choices and institutional decisions, and how learning and teaching will need to adapt in response to new tools. Sarah’s work has won her the Orwell Prize for her collaborative reporting on the UK's social and economic challenges, the Wincott Award for Financial Journalism, Business Commentator of the Year at the Comment Awards, and recognition from the Foreign Press Association and British Press Awards.