Artificial Intelligence and the debate over shorter work weeks

Despite historical predictions from figures like Charles Steinmetz and economist John Maynard Keynes suggesting that technological advancements would drastically reduce working hours, the standard work week has remained largely unchanged.

While Jeff Bezos has suggested that artificial intelligence could increase productivity enough to allow for three-day work weeks, recent actions by Amazon contrast with this vision. Following a period of significant profit growth, Amazon has continued to implement large-scale layoffs, raising questions about whether AI-driven productivity gains will benefit workers through more leisure time or lead to job displacement.