Prepare Yourself to a Work-Free World

• Some believe AI will make most human work redundant.
• Others, on the other hand, are skeptical.
• Who is right, and what should you do about it?

Two Skeptical Claims Against an AI-Driven Work-Free World

1. Some skeptics claim that there is a limit to what AI can do.
   • This is an arbitrary claim. There is no reason to believe there is an unbreakable limit to technology. When certain paths are being exhausted, new ones might be discovered.
   • Anyway, predicting the future isn’t required anymore. Even without further advancement in AI, once current AI abilities are widely and deeply integrated into industries, they are likely to fundamentally change the economy and society.
2. Other skeptics claim that while AI makes some jobs obsolete, it will create new ones.
   • These skeptics regard work as if it were fundamental to nature. They feel that like energy is conserved in nature, so does work. This isn’t the case – human work isn’t integral to nature. (The term ‘Work’ is used in physics, but metaphorically)
   • While AI might create new jobs, it is unlikely that it will create more jobs than it made redundant.
   • Moreover, there is no reason to believe new jobs created by AI won’t, in turn, be made redundant by it soon after.
   • Prompt engineering is an example of a new, high-paying, job created by AI, that is already on the verge of being rendered obsolete by it.
   • Even industries that are less directly affected by AI might shrink due to the AI-driven shrinkage of related industries.
   • AI doesn’t need to replace all human work to fundamentally change the economy and society. It doesn’t even need to replace most human work to do so.
   • Even if only 30% are unemployed – and it’s pointless to encourage them to find jobs, as there are none available and it’s obvious the shortage only increases with time – governments will have to introduce solutions that are currently considered radical. Solutions such as UBI.

AI Will Make Enough Human Work Redundant to Change Our Lives

• Where AI will do better, there will be no economic reason to prefer humans.
• With time, AI will do better than humans in more and more fields. There isn’t a reason to believe otherwise.
• So, to answer the question ‘Will AI make human work redundant?’: there is no good reason to believe AI won’t make human work redundant to an extent that will substantially affect the economy and society.
• Or, positively put: AI will make enough human work redundant to change our lives.
• It is simple. There is no way around it. And it can be a good thing.
• In fact, it already started:

• 53% of companies use AI, and 24% plan to start in 2024.
• 37% of companies using AI say the technology replaced workers this year.
• 44% of companies surveyed say AI will lead to layoffs in 2024.

1 in 3 Companies Will Replace Employees With AI in 2024 – ResumeBuilder.com

Klarna CEO says the company stopped hiring a year ago because AI ‘can already do all of the jobs’

Klarna Stopped Hiring Because AI ‘Can Already Do All the Jobs,’ CEO Says – Business Insider

• This is actually a part of a process that started long before AI:

• Labor productivity has been increasing for decades, while average working hours have been decreasing in many developed economies:

• Many say, ‘The prediction of the end of work has been around for long; it hasn’t happened yet, hence it will never happen.’
• However, it has actually been happening. The predictions have not been proven false but have been steadily fulfilled.
• While the pace was such that it might be hard to notice over a working lifetime, this pace can change.
• So why are some still skeptical?

Skeptics Are Afraid to Lose Meaning

• Some are still skeptical possibly because they are afraid to lose meaning.
• The motivation for most of what most of us do most of the time is a sense of meaning. Without a sense of purpose in life, we’ll probably find it hard to get out of bed.
• AI making work redundant is going to drastically affect major sources for a sense of meaning.

Work

• First of all, work itself:

[…] 70 percent of employees said that their sense of purpose is defined by their work.

Help your employees find purpose—or watch them leave | McKinsey

Work is commonly cited as a source of meaning in life.

Finding meaning in what one does | Pew Research Center

• But this is just the beginning.

Money

• When work is obsolete, money changes its meaning. It will no longer represent personal achievements and status, thus eliminating another common source for a sense of meaning:

[…] these studies suggest that having greater financial resources weakens the link between meaning and happiness.

Financial Resources Impact the Relationship between Meaning and Happiness | Stanford Graduate School of Business

• Assuming a sense of meaning is the ultimate goal for us all, with almost no exceptions, the above conclusion can be interpreted differently: wealthy people search less for meaning because they already find meaning in their wealth and its entitlements.

• And indeed:

Those with higher income more likely to draw meaning from work.

Finding meaning in what one does | Pew Research Center

Possession

• At least at first, we will probably not be able to consume as much stuff as we currently used to consume – and stuff is another major source for a sense of meaning (or distraction from the search for meaning).
• Even what we will consume will say more about our priorities, than our achievements.

Education

• Education, and its related titles and entitlements, are another common source of meaning.
• Education, in its current form, is aimed at preparing for and securing jobs.
• Once jobs are eliminated, education, if survived, will change fundamentally – shaking another source of meaning.

Social Status

• Work, money, position, and education constitute social statuses, in which many find a sense of meaning or purpose in life as well:

These results suggest that upper-class individuals indeed have a higher Quality of Life. […] this seems to be mostly due to the increased status of upper-class individuals […]

Exploring the Relationship between Social Class and Quality of Life: the Mediating Role of Power and Status | Springer Link

Progress

• Taking a wider look at us as a society, we are accustomed to viewing progress as a goal of humanity.
• This prospect will be redundant as well. Either because we will feel ultimate progress has been achieved, or because any further progress won’t be made by us humans. We’ve passed the torch.

The Potential Loss of Meaning is Scary

• Overall, these changes constitute a meaningful, or a meaningless, crisis. One we will probably find hard to overcome.
• Losing meaning to AI is scary. This is probably the reason some repress the idea of an AI-driven work-free world, and prefer to be skeptical about it.
• But there is no need to fear, as there are other sources for a sense of meaning in life.

Some Sources for Meaning, Such as Relationships and Hobbies, Are AI-Proof

• While work, money, possession, education, and progress are common and major sources for a sense of meaning – they aren’t the only sources available.
• Relationships and hobbies are two common sources of a sense of meaning that are AI-resistant.
• To prepare ourselves for a work-free world, we better build and improve relationships, and find hobbies. The second might help with the first.

Earn Some Extra Spending Money

• Even in a work-free world, it’s likely we’ll be able to earn ourselves some extra cash. It will possibly be for something unique people value because we make or do it, something we are passionate about. These things are often discovered and developed through hobbies.