Humanness not just a feature: AI, meaningful work, and the structural imperatives of flourishing

Abstract

The prompt absorption of artificial intelligence into organizational life raises a foundational question: not what AI does to jobs, but what it does to the conditions under which workers experience themselves as human. This paper advances the concept of humanness at work, defined as the capacity to experience oneself as an autonomous, competent, and socially recognized agent engaged in purposeful, relational contribution. Treated as the anthropological foundation from which AI governance and work design must be evaluated, humanness is not a secondary outcome of technological adoption but its proper governing criterion. The paper makes three theoretical contributions. First, it reconceptualizes meaningful work as the necessary structural condition through which humanness becomes organizationally possible, rather than a desirable psychological outcome or managerial instrument. Second, it introduces the humanness deficit to diagnose how AI-mediated arrangements systematically erode these conditions through three interconnected vectors: algorithmic control, achievement displacement, and passive substitution. Third, it develops the Digital Meaningful Job (DMJ), a multilevel sociotechnical framework extending the sociotechnical systems tradition, that positions humanness as the governing criterion for AI integration and operationalizes this commitment through four theoretical propositions. The paper concludes with a four-part research agenda, arguing that preserving humanness under AI conditions requires sustainable institutional arrangements that treat human flourishing as a non-negotiable design criterion rather than a residual consideration.