India-backed Institute for Human Flourishing launches during UNGA week to shape AI’s impact on workers

# Institute for Human Flourishing Launches in India to Study AI’s Impact on Workers

The Institute for Human Flourishing (IHF), a new India-based organization focused on the impact of artificial intelligence on workers and communities, has been launched during the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The institute is backed by The Rockefeller Foundation, Schmidt Philanthropies and the Government of India. It aims to study how AI can affect incomes, economic opportunity and individual agency, particularly among vulnerable communities and workers in developing economies.

Founded by Ravi Venkatesan and led by CEO Urvashi Aneja, IHF made its international debut during UNGA week, bringing together philanthropists, policymakers and employers. The Government of India’s Expert Group on Human Flourishing has also endorsed the institute’s establishment.

IHF says its central focus will be identifying approaches that can produce positive outcomes for workers, testing those approaches in real-world settings and turning successful findings into models that can be replicated elsewhere.

The institute argues that the economic consequences of AI will depend not only on technological advances but also on decisions made by governments, businesses and other institutions.

For India and other countries across the Global South, IHF said the effects could be particularly significant because many workers enter the middle class through entry-level information technology and business process outsourcing jobs. The institute said those roles are coming under pressure as automation changes the economics of labor-intensive services.

The organization also pointed to the large size of India’s informal workforce as both a challenge and an opportunity. Nearly 90% of India’s workforce is informal, according to IHF, meaning that the benefits of AI could extend beyond large companies if the technology is made accessible to farmers, artisans, small businesses and microenterprises.

IHF said much of the current investment in AI is concentrated among larger companies, creating a potential gap between technological development and its adoption by smaller businesses and workers.

The institute therefore plans to focus on what it describes as the diffusion of AI, studying how the technology can be integrated into workplaces and livelihoods rather than concentrating solely on its technical capabilities.

One of its planned initiatives is a Livelihoods Lab, which will conduct real-world demonstrations of human-AI collaboration with workers and organizations. The projects will be designed in collaboration with participants and will examine how AI affects actual jobs and economic activities.

IHF said the findings from these demonstrations will be published as open public goods, including results from projects that do not produce the expected outcomes.

The organization also plans to establish an AI and Jobs Observatory to monitor workers’ experiences as AI adoption expands. The observatory is expected to generate data that can help researchers and policymakers understand how technological changes are affecting employment and livelihoods.

Another planned initiative is an Index of Human Flourishing designed to measure outcomes that extend beyond income. IHF said the index will examine factors including agency, dignity, capability and economic security.

Its Policy and Narrative program will seek to translate research findings into policy discussions and connect a Global South advisory network around common priorities related to AI and economic development.

Ravi Venkatesan said India could demonstrate an approach in which AI is used to expand economic opportunity rather than simply reduce employment, but argued that such an outcome would require institutions capable of connecting research, practical experience and public policy.

CEO Urvashi Aneja said the transformation of work by AI is already taking place across the Global South. She said the central question is whether that transformation can increase incomes and expand agency for the majority of workers, particularly those employed in informal economies.

S. Krishnan, secretary of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said the country’s AI strategy has emphasized inclusion and the use of technology to expand opportunity.

Krishnan said research into how AI can strengthen livelihoods, particularly within the informal economy, complements government initiatives under the IndiaAI Mission.

With its planned research labs, worker-focused data initiatives and policy programs, IHF is positioning itself as a bridge between AI development, workplace experimentation and public policy, with an emphasis on how technological change affects workers beyond major technology companies.