Significant efforts have been directed at understanding the implications of new technologies for the future of employment and training. In contrast, the future of unpaid domestic work has received little attention so far. DomesticAI is a major research project based at the University of Oxford that will:
Focusing on Japan and the UK, the project will use a range of expert and household survey techniques to estimate the automatability of key domestic tasks as well as the affordability and social acceptability of emerging smart domestic technologies. Based on these estimates we will build several plausible scenarios of the ways in which domestic workloads will change in the coming years and the implications of these changes for social issues such as gender inequality and the domestic life of the elderly.
Associate Professor in AI and Society
Project role: Principal Investigator
Ekaterina Hertog is an Associate Professor of AI and Society at Oxford Internet Institute and Institute for Ethics in AI. She studies how the rising digitalisation is reshaping private lives across the world.
Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research
Project role: Co-Investigator
Vili Lehdonvirta examines the politics and socio-economic impacts of digital technologies. He is one of the world's most cited authors on gig work and the platform economy. His current research deals with the geopolitics of digital infrastructures.
Research Associate
Lulu Shi is a sociologist working on projects investigating the intersection between society and technology. Her research interests include digital sociology, sociology of education, work and employment.
13 November 2024
A new study from AI experts at the University of Oxford and University of Melbourne reveals that men are much more likely to support the idea of being cared for in their homes by a robot when they are infirm or elderly, than women.
8 March 2024
As we mark International Women’s Day, Professor Ekaterina Hertog, spoke to us about AI, the automation in the home and the impact of such technologies on women in the workplace and wider society.
22 February 2023
Four in ten hours currently devoted to unpaid housework and care of children and other family members could be automated within the decade, according to research from the University of Oxford and Ochanomizu University.
The Guardian, 16 March 2025
From hacking screen time settings to bypassing website restrictions, young people make responsible parenting in the age of tech feel like a game of whack-a-mole.
Newsweek, 13 December 2024
While the Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to introduce a four-day workweek to ease the burden on families, some analysts believe it will have little impact on declining births unless accompanied by fundamental changes to workplace culture.
BBC Radio Oxford, 20 November 2024
Dr Hertog shares key findings from her new study exploring people’s attitudes towards robot carers with the BBC Radio Oxford breakfast show.
NZZ, 19 May 2024
Mankind has been dreaming of household robots for a long time. Soon it could be time: thanks to AI and emancipation.
