Working the Boundaries of Social Work: Artificial Intelligence and the Profession of Social Work

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic decision-support are relatively new technologies within the field of social work. This paper investigates how the social work profession in Denmark responds to the current technological changes. Analysing articles from professional journals associated with the Danish Association of Social Workers, online content on the association’s website, and interviews with key actors involved in the association’s work on technology, this paper shows how professional agents legitimize and criticise these technologies, thereby performing different kinds of boundary work. The paper will show how such boundary work, carried out by the profession of social work in Denmark, change over time, and how, in the discussion on artificial intelligence, the profession reinforces its own position within the welfare state, demarcates the boundaries between the profession of social work and other occupational groups, and formulates a new professional project.