top of page

David J. Staley, PhD

Associate Professor, Department of History

College of Arts and Sciences, The Ohio State University

David Staley is an associate professor in the Department of History--where he teaches courses in digital history and historical methods--and holds courtesy appointments in the departments of Design--where he has taught courses in Design History and Design Futures--and Educational Studies, where he has led the "Forum on the University."  His is the author of  Visionary Histories (Center for Science and the Imagination, 2022) , a collection of his futures essays; the co-author of Knowledge Towns: Colleges and Universities as Talent Magnets (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023); Historical Imagination (Routledge, 2020); Alternative Universities: Speculative Design for Innovation in Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019); Brain, Mind and Internet: A Deep History and Future (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)Computers, Visualization and History, 2nded. (Routledge, 2014) and History and Future: Using Historical Thinking to Imagine the Future (Lexington Books, 2007)He is an Honorary Faculty Fellow in Innovation at the Center for Higher Ed Leadership and Innovative Practice (CHELIP) at Bay Path University, and is a Fellow at the Center for Science and the Imagination at Arizona State University.  He is host of the "Voices of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences" podcast. In 2022 he was awarded "Best Freelance Writer" by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists for his "Next" futures column. From 2003-2008, Staley was the Executive Director of the American Association for History and Computing (AAHC).  

David J. Staley, PhD
Keynote
July 9, 2025 - Industry Day
9:05 AM - 10:00 AM
Ohana Hall
The Future of the Agentic Economy

The rise of artificially-intelligent agents will reshape the economic landscape, heralding a fundamentally new economy, an “agentic economy” where most transactions occur autonomously. In this world, each individual will be supported by thousands of AI agents, amplifying personal productivity to unprecedented levels. The traditional structures of employment will shift, with employees potentially reporting to AI supervisors and bureaucracies giving way to an "agent-ocracy"—a decision-making system that operates with minimal--if any--human intervention. Cities, too, will function autonomously, leveraging sensors and AI-driven decision-making to manage infrastructure and services, such as dispatching fleets of autonomous snow removal vehicles in real-time. This transformation raises fundamental questions: What role will humans play in an economy dominated by intelligent agents? What does "work" mean in an agentic economy? How will the wealth generated by these autonomous systems be distributed? What will be the politics of the agentic economy? The service sector and care economy, long reliant on human labor, will be profoundly disrupted, necessitating new economic theories to account for agent-driven productivity and decision-making. Furthermore, as AI agents become core participants in cognitive labor, the very nature of knowledge work will evolve, indeed redefining the meaning of "knowledge." This presentation explores the implications of an agentic economy, addressing both its potential benefits and the challenges it poses to existing economic and social frameworks.

Meet our Sponsors
Diamond
CGI
Platinum
Deloitte
Gold
6f3af9a0-4534-4cc6-9d8a-2586cd5f74ee.jpg
Silver
Testsigma_Logo.jpg_p=publish.jpg
Bronze
CyanGate SDrive
PDF Butler
Titan
Metazoa
Copper
Copado-logo-1500px.png
Keynote
download.png
Dreamin' Reception
Hike2
Practitioner Day Lunch
Aimpoint Technology
Welcome Reception
Screenshot 2025-02-26 145401.png
Swag Bag
Deloitte
Lanyard
CGI
Summit
Badge
Summit
Water Bottle
Hike2
Mug
Plauti logo black [temp].png
WiFi
Peeklogic_2024.png
Event
Salesforce
Buckeye Dreamin'

Subscribe for Updates From Buckeye Dreamin

Thanks for submitting!

©2024 by Buckeye Dreamin, LLC

bottom of page