<
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/feb/18/ai-four-day-workweek>
"The front-page headline in a recent
Washington Post was breathless: “These
companies say AI is key to their four-day workweeks.” The subhead was euphoric:
“Some companies are giving workers back more time as artificial intelligence
takes over more tasks.”
As the
Post explained: “more companies may move toward a shortened workweek,
several executives and researchers predict, as workers, especially those in
younger generations, continue to push for better work-life balance.”
Hurray! There’s utopia at the end of the AI rainbow! A better work-life
balance!
You may have come across similar articles in
Fortune magazine and the
New
York Times. The AI spin brigade is in full force.
Business leaders are rhapsodizing about how AI will free their employees to
take more time off. Zoom’s Eric Yuan told the
Times that “A.I. can make all
of our lives better, why do we need to work for five days a week? Every company
will support three days, four days a week. I think this ultimately frees up
everyone’s time.”
Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, says advancing technology could push the
workweek down to just three and a half days. The Microsoft co-founder Bill
Gates openly wonders whether a two-day workweek could be the future.
Elon Musk pushes the idea to the extreme (as he does everything else): “In less
than 20 years – but maybe even as little as 10 or 15 years – the advancements
in AI and robotics will bring us to the point where working is optional.” Even
better: “There will be no poverty in the future and so no need to save money,”
says Musk. “There will be universal high income.”
All of this is pure rubbish. Even if AI produces big productivity gains – which
is still an open question (an MIT study last year found that “despite $30–40
billion in enterprise investment into GenAI, 95% of organizations are getting
zero return”) – it’s far from clear that workers will see much, if any, of the
benefits.
If productivity rises, as it’s supposed to do when the workplace becomes
immersed in AI, each worker will generate more value, by definition. And
supposedly with more value, we’re all better off.
Worker productivity has been rising for years, yet the median wage has barely
risen, when adjusted for inflation.
Here’s the truth: the four-day workweek will most likely come with four days’
worth of pay. The three-day workweek, with three days’ worth. And so on.
So, as AI takes over their current work, most workers will probably get poorer
or have to take additional jobs to maintain their current pay."
We could insist on an “AI dividend” paid as a guaranteed living income.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
