A World Without Work

A World Without Work: A Visionary Account of How AI Will Transform the World of Work

From mechanical looms to computers, new technologies have always provoked panic about workers being replaced by machines. For centuries, such fears have been misplaced, but as Daniel Susskind demonstrates in A World Without Work, this time is different. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence mean that all kinds of jobs are increasingly at risk.

Drawing on almost a decade of research, Susskind argues that machines no longer need to think like us to outperform us. As a result, more and more tasks that used to be beyond the capability of computers - from diagnosing illnesses to drafting legal contracts, from writing news reports to composing music - are coming within their reach. The threat of technological unemployment is now real.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, Susskind emphasizes. Technological progress could bring about unprecedented prosperity, solving one of humanity's oldest problems: how to ensure everyone has enough to live on. The challenges will be to distribute this prosperity fairly, constrain the burgeoning power of Big Tech, and provide meaning in a world where work is no longer the center of our lives. Perceptive, pragmatic, and ultimately hopeful, A World Without Work shows the way forward in the age of AI and automation.