Sam Altman says AI won't shorten the workweek because humans secretly enjoy being busy

The Promise of Less Work

One of the many benefits promised early in the generative AI boom was that it would boost productivity to the point where most of us could work fewer hours per week (and still be paid the same, presumably). That hasn't happened, of course - unless you count all the people who've been laid off because of AI and now work no hours each week.

Altman gave his take on this topic during an interview with Ti Morse on the Relentless podcast.

"Technology, for a long time, has been promising people that they're going to work less and they're going to have all this leisure," Altman said. "But somehow we never get the promise of the four-hour workweek at mass scale in society," he added. "And I don't expect AI to change that."

Why We Stay Busy

Altman says that humanity today has more leisure time and a better quality of life than any other period in history, thanks to technology, but that's not enough for a lot of people.

"We always want more. We think of new things to do, to create for each other, to want for ourselves. It's like a relative game. People are very focused on how they're doing relative to other people," the CEO said.

Altman believes that human expectations rise alongside their capabilities. When technology makes existing work easier, we invent new products, ambitions, experiences, and problems to pursue. Beyond money and status, he thinks people have a genuine desire to create, contribute and feel useful. That motivation will continue even when AI can perform much of today's work.

"I think we're all going to be much busier than we thought we were supposed to be in a post-superintelligence world. We're still going to complain about it, but secretly we're going to be happy," Altman concluded.

Counterarguments

Altman does seem to base his assumption on everyone having incredibly satisfying careers that offer a wealth of creative outlets. It's hard to imagine people working soul-crushing, monotonous, depressing jobs not wanting to work fewer hours for the same pay each week.

Others have also questioned why, if AI is making us all super productive, we're not working shorter workweeks. Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience last year, Senator Bernie Sanders said that the extra time that workers save through the use of AI tools should be given back to them - not filled with extra tasks.

Existing Four-Day-Week Experiments

The UK, France, Japan, and Germany are among the countries where companies and government organizations have been experimenting with four-day weeks without reducing workers' pay.

An aggregated global study found that during these four-day weeks:

• Company revenue was up 8%
• Among workers, fatigue was down 10%
• Stress was down around 35%

The study also found that overall productivity stayed the same or even increased - by 40%, in the case of Microsoft Japan.

Altman recently claimed that another AI prediction hasn't come to pass: the jobs apocalypse. But that probably depends on your definition of an apocalypse.