The Great Workplace Transition fails without new economic systems

Dr. Ben Goertzel is co-founder of the Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) Alliance and CEO of SingularityNet, a decentralised, blockchain-based AI marketplace designed to democratise AI and support decentralised artificial general intelligence.

I've been watching the public conversation about AI evolve since I was a young science fiction fan in the 1970s, and in recent years I’ve noticed a fascinating shift in what keeps people up at night.

In 2014, when Nick Bostrom published his book Superintelligence, everyone's first reaction to artificial general intelligence, or AGI, was pure Terminator panic -- "Isn't it going to kill everyone?"

These days, the existential dread has given way to something more immediate and arguably more realistic: "AI will take our jobs and we'll all be unemployed". 

As someone who's been thinking about AGI longer than most, I find this shift both encouraging and concerning. Encouraging because it suggests people are moving past Hollywood dystopias toward more nuanced thinking about what AGI actually means for humanity.

Concerning because the economic disruption we're facing is very real. Even if we're heading toward a post-scarcity paradise, the transition period could be brutal if we don't handle it thoughtfully. 

The automation wave hits cognitive work 

AI job displacement isn't following the predicted pattern. We're still waiting for robot butlers and roads full of self-driving cars, but AI has already transformed report writing and graphic design at stunning speed.

It now handles data entry, customer service, financial analysis, legal review, and content moderation with growing sophistication.  

AI is moving beyond simple tasks to complex cognitive work requiring pattern recognition, analysis and creative synthesis.

Many middle management roles can already be automated by AI systems that monitor metrics, allocate tasks and optimise workflows better than humans.

Modern bureaucracies spent decades making jobs predictable and repeatable, accidentally creating perfect targets for AI replacement.  

One thing that’s always been clear to me is that eliminating the need to work for survival is a feature, not a bug. There are infinitely more amazing things people could do with their lives than sell their days to employers: pursuing spiritual fulfilment, creative arts, deeper relationships, exploration, and learning.

As discussed in Ray Kurzweil’s book, The Singularity is Near, the post-Singularity world refers to a future in which AI has surpassed human intelligence and is capable of rapidly improving itself, fundamentally reshaping society in ways that humans can no longer fully predict or control. This promises work environments that are genuinely human-friendly, less hierarchical, more like teams of friends collaborating on meaningful projects while AI handles the boring stuff. 

The transition challenge 

But we need to be realistic about the path from here to there.

Too many revolutionaries have asked people to endure hardship with promises of a better afterlife. The AGI revolution should be able to do better.

Even if we're ultimately heading toward post-scarcity abundance, economic systems will take time to adjust. If AI starts replacing jobs while our socioeconomic systems haven't evolved to provide for everyone, people will struggle with both practical survival and deeper psychological needs for purpose and meaning. 

We've seen this pattern before during previous technological revolutions.

When machines replaced back-breaking physical labour, people were generally glad to see those jobs go. But now AI can replace work that people actually find fulfilling; careers they spent years preparing for in journalism, art, programming, scientific research. The rate of change is faster, and the disruption cuts deeper. 

If we want to mitigate the risks to the best of our ability, we have to be honest about them.

Even if AI delivers on its promises, the path is treacherous. We risk a "lost generation" of mid-career professionals whose jobs vanish faster than they can retrain, inequality that concentrates AI's benefits among those with capital and technical skills while leaving most behind, and the political instability that comes when millions watch their livelihoods evaporate.  

And the consequences in the developing world, where economic and social safety nets are even more extremely incomplete, are potentially far more severe.  

Without robust economic policies and social support systems in place now, the transition period could breed the very social upheaval that derails our ability to reach the better future on the other side. 

Jobs that transform rather than disappear 

Many roles will transform, not disappear. Take medicine, where we lack doctors and nurses. AI can analyse patient data while humans provide the direct care people actually want. 

AGI itself can help manage this transition. It can analyse massive datasets on job markets, demographics, and training outcomes, matching them with people's skills and needs. It can track labour trends at the community level, spotting opportunities and skill gaps before they become crises. 

As an AI researcher, I use AI tools to speed up writing, generate code, and discover relevant research. It doesn't eliminate my passion for exploration. It amplifies it. The same holds across professions, from science to law to creative arts. 

The choice ahead 

The coordination challenge is too complex for central planning but too important to leave to pure chaos. We need decentralised systems channelling collective wisdom into local guidance, with safety nets, basic sustenance, and universal AI access. 

What's at stake isn't just economic welfare, but the Singularity itself. How we integrate AI into work shapes whether AGI systems remain sensitive to human needs for meaningful activity. 

Our choices about AI deployment will shape not just work's future, but what kind of society and Global Brain we become. I remain optimistic we can navigate this successfully, but only if we approach this unprecedented situation with the wisdom, compassion, and long-term thinking it demands.