Karl Benedict Frey Column: Work Meaning Beyond Income

Carl Benedict Frey Associate Professor of AI at Oxford Internet Institute

Kurt Vonnegut, in his novel Player Piano (1952), imagined a world where machines have automated most industries and only a few engineers and managers are left to oversee the system. The government arranges food and accommodation for everyone else, but they have no work to do.

Has Vonnegut’s vision proved to be visionary? It is not yet possible to say that AI will make a large part of our workforce redundant. But we definitely know that AI has started posing serious challenges to the ways of human life. If most of our work were automated, we would be wealthier, on average. This should increase the level of satisfaction. However, research shows that when your income doubles, your criteria for evaluating life also become harsher by the same amount. But having any meaning in life is a different matter.

The work we do not only brings us income, it is also a part of our identity. On the other hand, if we have nothing to do, it hurts our mental health, even if we are earning a full income. Along with salary, work also gives a person discipline in life, a sense of attachment, social prestige and a feeling of contributing to a cause. These qualities cannot be redistributed like money.

In fact, AI poses a challenge to the way of life in at least three ways. AI doesn’t have to be better than you to undermine your sense of purpose; It is enough for it to be ‘functionally’ well and low cost. It’s a different matter when we miss out on something extraordinary; But to be made irrelevant by something that is merely ‘good-enough’ – is quite another matter.

Additionally, AI-powered entertainment and ‘companionship’ (spending time with an AI as a friend) may occupy a large portion of people’s time and need for social connection. They may also take the place of more challenging activities that create meaning in life.

By providing an experience of seamless and seamless closeness, AI can take a back seat to the effort, duty, reciprocity, selflessness and inconvenience that real relationships require. The relationship with AI does not ask for anything in return from us. In reality it is just consumption presented in the form of a relationship.

Digital life has already changed human interactions. Increasing use of social media among youth has been found to be associated with decreased feeling of satisfaction in life. There is no role of AI in this yet, but this shows that more contact through digital mediums does not bring more depth in human relationships. The truth is that the search for meaning in life is rarely done from a position of comfort.

It results from efforts made to achieve a chosen objective, whether it is raising a child or mastering a skill. Looking back in life, people consider the struggle done for a meaningful goal to be more valuable. Perhaps this is the reason why more prosperous and developed societies experience more facilities, but they are not able to have a deeper understanding of the purposes of life.

Also remember that even if AI surpasses human capabilities, not every type of work will go away. People have not stopped playing chess even after computers have become better than humans at chess. People still run, cook food, compose music, build furniture and watch live performances by purchasing expensive tickets.

The search for meaning in life rarely comes from a position of comfort. It results from efforts made to achieve some objective, whether it is raising a child or mastering a skill. People consider only the struggle for a goal as valuable. (@ProjectSyndicate)

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