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Could AI help enable workers to work fewer hours each week? Sen. Bernie Sanders thinks so.
In an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience released on Tuesday, the Vermont senator said that if it were up to him, increases in productivity and efficiency brought by artificial intelligence and automation would be used to give time back to workers.
“You’re a worker, your productivity is increasing because we give you AI, right?” Sanders said. “Instead of throwing you out on the street, I’m going to reduce your workweek to 32 hours.”
“Let’s use technology to benefit workers,” he continued. “That means, give you more time with your family, with your friends, for education, whatever the hell you want to do. You don’t have to work 40 hours a week anymore.”
Sanders introduced the “Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act” last year. The act would require employers to provide overtime pay for any time worked beyond 32 hours, which is equivalent to eight hours per day for four days. The change would be phased in over four years.
The idea of a 32-hour workweek has gained momentum in recent years, and some companies, including those that use AI, have already begun to experiment with it.
Top CEOs have also predicted that AI will spur shorter workweeks.
Rogan also pressed Sanders during the episode about what happens if virtually all work becomes automated and whether people can find purpose in life without jobs.
“Work has been so essential to human existence forever, right? And you’re suddenly taking that away,” Sanders said. “What do people do? How do they relate to each other? All I would say at this moment is the answer is not to fall in love with your AI creature out there.”
“Who knows, but I think human beings are capable of finding, replacing work with other emotionally satisfying things,” Sanders said. “I think we can do it.”
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