When I was younger, I remember hearing the term “société des loisirs”. In English, this would be “leisure society”. The concept emerged as a utopian vision during the 20th century with the rise of automation and the reduction of work hours. It was thought that as technology advanced, it would gradually take over most, if not all, of the work we do, leading to a society where work is no longer necessary. This shift would supposedly free up enormous amounts of time for leisure, personal fulfillment, and creativity. We know what happened… The idea was largely promoted by futurists and social theorists like John Maynard Keynes, who famously predicted in his 1930 essay, “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,” that by the 21st century (which is NOW!), automation would have become so prevalent that people would only need to work 15 hours per week. This would usher in an era of abundance where people would be free to pursue their passions and interests, leading to a massive societal and cultural shift. Yeah … right… Now, the rise of #artificialintelligence, and particularly #generativeAI like #ChatGPT, has rekindled these discussions. AI will undoubtfully be used to perform a wide range of tasks that were once considered the exclusive domain of humans, from driving cars to writing news articles to diagnosing diseases. This has led some to speculate that we are on the cusp of an AI-induced societal shift akin to the leisure society envisioned by Keynes and others. While AI and automation can potentially free us from certain types of labor, they could lead to massive job displacement. And I’m afraid it could also make our lives more stressful and complicated in ways we just can’t foresee today. #jobmarket #futureai #society