Could AI and automation lead to three-and-a-half-day workweeks?

Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation are on everyone’s lips right now, with many businesses seeking ways of introducing them to become more efficient and productive.

This was a sentiment that Jamie Dimon, CEO of American multinational financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co, shared during an interview with Bloomberg Television on Monday.

Mr Dimon highlighted that the company is very deeply involved with AI and noted that the new technology is very effective in terms of making life easier for various employees, including brokers, bankers, traders, money managers, and back-office operational teams.

He also noted that AI’s influence extends beyond the financial services sector, stating: “Your children are going to live to 100 and not have cancer because of technology.”

Mr Dimon added that the younger generation will also “probably be working three-and-a-half days a week”.

His prediction might take some time to come to fruition, but as the years pass by, he might be proven right.

As found in KPMG’s 2023 CEO Outlook survey, business leaders are increasing their investment in AI in order to gain a competitive edge over others, with 70 per cent prioritising the leverage of the tech to enable employees to be more efficient. Doing so will allow employees to make do without low-impact responsibilities, instead turning to ones that require more of a human element.

While Mr Dimon welcomed AI’s potential advantages, he also noted that it could lead to job losses or decreased working hours, given technology’s possibilities when it comes to productivity.

"Technology has done unbelievable things for mankind but, you know, planes crash, pharmaceuticals get misused, there are negatives," he said, pointing towards other possible downsides of AI. "This one, the biggest negative in my view is AI being used by bad people to do bad things," Mr Dimon added.

Should businesses opt to decrease working hours, companies will be able to reduce their wages, prompting a drop in income for the next generation of workers. This can also prompt a number of full-time and permanent employees to make the shift towards part-time, gig, or contract jobs, losing their full-time status and the benefits that come with it.

A number of companies have already started introducing four-day workweeks, but this is done in a way to still carry out the same number of hours in a typical week, just in a more condensed way.

Business leaders are still divided when it comes to AI, as many still acknowledge that such technologies will “not take away people's jobs”, and that failing to embrace it will mean many companies are left behind.

Who knows what the future holds for the business world?