Bill Gates Predicts AI Could Cut Working
Artificial intelligence (AI) may not be able to replace humans yet, but it could at least cut working hours to three days a week, according to Bill Gates.
Gates recently appeared as a guest on the podcast "What Now?" hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. When Noah asked about the threat of AI to human jobs, Gates replied that AI could help humans from working too hard.
"If you ultimately succeed in creating a society where you only have to work three days a week, maybe that's not a bad thing," Gates said, as quoted by Business Insider on Sunday (November 26, 2023).
The Microsoft co-founder also imagined a world where machines could make food and other things, while humans do not need to work five days a week to earn a decent living.
To Noah, Gates said his life was busy with Microsoft from the age of 18 to 40. Now the bespectacled man said his purpose in life is not just about working.
Gates' prediction is quite interesting considering he had previously warned of the dangers of AI. In July last year, Gates had posted a 3,000-word blog post about the potential impact of AI.
But Gates is not the only businessman who predicts shorter working hours in the age of AI. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon previously said the next generation of employees would only need to work 3.5 days a week thanks to AI.
"Your children will live to be 100 years old and not suffer from cancer because of technology and they might work t3.5 days a week," Dimon told Bloomberg.
A number of companies in the United States and other countries have indeed begun to experiment with a four-day workweek. Some of the trials that have been conducted have shown an improvement in efficiency and work-life balance.