The Rise of the Knowledge Sculptor: A New Archetype for Knowledge Work in the Age of Generative AI
This addresses the transformation of knowledge work for professionals in the Generative AI era, but it is incremental as it builds on existing socio-technical perspectives.
The paper tackles the inadequacy of traditional knowledge work models in the face of generative AI by introducing the Knowledge Sculptor archetype for human-AI collaboration, resulting in a conceptual framework and practice-based illustration without concrete numerical results.
In the Generative Age, the nature of knowledge work is transforming. Traditional models that emphasise the organisation and retrieval of pre-existing information are increasingly inadequate in the face of generative AI (GenAI) systems capable of autonomous content creation. This paper introduces the Knowledge Sculptor (KS), a new professional archetype for Human-GenAI collaboration that transforms raw AI output into trustworthy, actionable knowledge. Grounded in a socio-technical perspective, the KS is conceptualised through a framework of competencies, including architecting a vision, iterative dialogue, information sculpting, and curiosity-driven synthesis. A practice-based vignette illustrates the KS role in action, and in a self-referential approach, the paper itself serves as an artefact of the sculpting process it describes.