---
id: "quote-holding-the-keys"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Autonomy."]
tags: ["autonomy", "labor-relations"]
related: ["concept-algorithmic-cage", "entity-raphael-bob-waksberg", "claim-mandates-backfire"]
speaker: "Raphael Bob-Waksberg"
speakers: ["Raphael Bob-Waksberg"]
quote: "If we can have some protections where we, the workers, can control the automation, then the automation can be used to help us do our jobs. I don't think anyone would be against that. We're not saying we want to go back to the rotary phone….We're saying we need to hold the keys. Because when companies hold the keys, we get cut out."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-sig-52-genai-threatening-to-workers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/03/why-gen-ai-feels-so-threatening-to-workers"
sourceTitle: "Why Gen AI Feels So Threatening to Workers"
---
# Holding the Keys to Automation

> "If we can have some protections where we, the workers, can control the automation, then the automation can be used to help us do our jobs. I don't think anyone would be against that. We're not saying we want to go back to the rotary phone….We're saying we need to hold the keys. Because when companies hold the keys, we get cut out."

— [[entity-raphael-bob-waksberg]], on the Hollywood writers' strike

**Why it matters:** The definitive articulation of the **autonomy** threat and the [[concept-algorithmic-cage]]. Workers are not anti-automation; they resist *loss of control over* automation. This distinction is the crux of [[claim-mandates-backfire]] and the design intent behind the Empower step of [[framework-aware]].