When the world is talking about Artifical Intelligence taking away jobs, billionaire Richard Branson has said that it may actually lead to less working hours, three-day workweeks and four-day weekends at a decent pay, if there’s a basic income. In an interview with New York Times, Richard Branson said, “I think A.I. will result in there being less hours in the day that people are going to need to work. You know, three-day workweeks and four-day weekends.”
“Then we’re going to need companies trying to entertain people during those four days, and help people make sure that they’re paid a decent amount of money for much shorter work time,” he told the newspaper stressing the need to have a basic income.
Meanwhile, an Oxford University study recently said that AI will have massive social consequences as self-driving technology might replace millions of driving jobs over the coming decade. In addition to possible unemployment, the transition will bring new challenges, such as rebuilding infrastructure, protecting vehicle cyber-security, and adopting laws and regulations.
The study found that the tasks that most likely to get automated within the next 10 years are rote, mechanical tasks, while more complex and creative tasks, like writing books and performing high-level math, will take longer. The researchers found that AI could automate all human tasks by the year 2051 and all human jobs by 2136.
AI will take over humans at literally at every task: translating languages by 2024; assembling lego by 2015; writing high-school essays by 2026; driving a truck by 2027; running a 5k race by 2029; working in retail by 2031; writing a New York Times bestseller 2049; working as a surgeon by 2053, a World Economic Forum report said.
