Artificial intelligence could enable millions of workers to move to a four-day week by 2033, according to a new study focusing on British and American workforces.
The report from the thinktank Autonomy found that projected productivity gains from the introduction of AI could reduce the working week from 40 to 32 hours for 28% of the workforce – 8.8 million people in Britain and 35 million in the US – while maintaining pay and performance.
The study says this could be achieved by bringing large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, into workplaces to augment workers’ roles and create more free time. According to Autonomy, such a policy could also help to avoid mass unemployment and reduce widespread mental and physical illnesses.
Will Stronge, the director of research at Autonomy, said: “Too many studies of AI, large language models, and so on, solely focus on either profitability or a jobs apocalypse. This study tries to show that when the technology is deployed to its full potential, but the purpose of the technology is shifted, it can not only improve work practices, but also improve work-life balance.”
The research found that 28 million workers, or 88% of Great Britain’s workforce, could have their working hours reduced by at least 10% through the introduction of LLMs.
The local authorities of City of London, Elmbridge and Wokingham are among those that, according to the thinktank, hold the highest potential for workers, with 38% or more of the workforce able to reduce their hours in the coming decade.
A similar study conducted in the US, also by Autonomy, found that 35 million American workers could also move to a four-day week inside the same time frame. It found that 128 million workers, 71% of the workforce, could have their working hours reduced by at least 10%. States including Massachusetts, Utah and Washington were found to have the potential for a quarter or more of their workforces to move to a four-day week using LLMs.
Source: The Guardian
