The prospect of a world without work - that was the vision offered up by Elon Musk this month. The US tech billionaire has predicted that artificial intelligence will eventually mean that no one will have to work. Mr Musk suggested that society could reach a point where “no job is needed” and “you can do a job if you want a job, but the AI will do everything”. Contrasting with the idea of the zero-hour working week, Indian software billionaire and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy - says that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development. Since the pandemic, many companies allow their employees to work from home. Others have moved to a four-day working week, citing benefits such as increased productivity and significant financial savings for employees on transport and childcare. But some employers insist the shorter working week doesn’t work - saying employees ended up having more stressful workdays, and feeling exhausted once they reached their scheduled days off. How many hours should a person work in a week? Is a world without work desirable? If AI will be capable of doing many jobs, should employees be fearing the future - or take advantage of these changes, and strive for new ways of working? What’s the future of work? Shaun Ley is joined by: Andrew Palmer, who writes The Economist's Bartleby column, which explores management and the world of work Brendan Burchell, professor in social sciences at the University of Cambridge. He's done a lot of work on the way labour markets affect individuals Anat Lechner, clinical professor of management and organisations at New York University Also featuring: Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Elliot Keck, Head of Campaigns at the Taxpayers' Alliance Gary Conroy, CEO of Five Squirrels, a company in the skincare industry which operates on a four-day working week Produced by Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen (Photo: Getty)
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
You are actually radioactive and everything alive.
Is Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service.
Search for unexpected elements wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
This is the real story from the BBC.
I'm Shawn Lay with your weekly exploration of a story that's making news and changing lives.
And this week, having a job without ever leaving home seemed a futuristic fantasy to television viewers at the end of the 1970s.
The necessary visual display unit, the electronic keyboard, computer and printer can be set up in your own house.
And far more of us could be working from home by 1981.
That BBC reporter was correct, even if it's taken us a little longer to get there.
Will the same be true of the prediction made this month by the tech mogul Elon Musk?
There will come a point where no job is needed.
You can have a job if you want to have a job, for sort of personal satisfaction, but the AI will be able to do everything.
Zero hours of work may appeal to some, but how does it sound to people who have to work long hours just to get by?
Indians work on average over 2000 hours a year, more than Americans, Brazilians and Germans.
Yet one of the country's wealthiest and most successful entrepreneurs says it's not enough.
India's work productivity is one of the.
Lowest in the world.
My request is that our youngsters must.
Say, this is my country.