Jensen Huang says AI will make workers ‘busier in the future’ – so what’s the point exactly?

If you buy the big tech hype around AI, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the future will be plain sailing with agents carrying out drudge work while you focus on the nitty gritty of your job.

Jensen Huang, CEO at Nvidia, isn’t convinced on that, however. You’ll probably still be bogged down, overworked, and wondering exactly why billions of dollars have been poured into a technology that’s making your life a misery.

In a recent appearance on Fox Business, Huang responded to a question on robotics and AI productivity gains with a rather grim outlook: workers will actually be busier.

“I have to admit that I’m afraid to say that we are going to be busier in the future than now,” he told host Liz Claman. “And the reason for that is because a lot of different things that take a long time to do are now faster to do. I’m always waiting for work to get done because I’ve got more ideas.”

“The more productive we are, the more opportunity we get to pursue new ideas,” Huang continued.

Reading between the lines here, it seems the so-called efficiency gains afforded by AI will mean workers have more work dumped in their laps – onto the next task, no rest for the wicked, etc.

Huang’s comments run counter to the prevailing sentiment among big tech executives on exactly what AI will deliver for both enterprises and individual workers.

Since the advent of the generative AI ‘boom’, the technology has been hailed as a silver bullet for sluggish performance, a means to supercharge worker productivity and maximize efficiency.

There are signs the technology is delivering on these fronts. Analysis from GitHub last year showed that software developers were saving so much time using AI tools that they were able to focus on other tasks, with some even taking the time to learn new programming languages.

Separate research from Microsoft also points toward positive productivity gains for individual workers. Naturally, productivity boosts are welcomed. However, Huang’s comments point to a more concerning reality with the deployment of AI in the enterprise.

Nobody is expecting the technology to pick up slack and enable workers to put their feet up. But if the technology is being used efficiently and unlocking gains, and we’re still busier, then the messaging we’ve had from big tech over the last two years has been false.

Expectations versus reality

We’ve all read the marketing copy and heard it regurgitated by tech leaders on podcasts and keynote stages – AI will allow us to focus on the “more rewarding” aspects of our jobs.

They’ve never fully explained what this entails, or how it will pan out in the workplace. To be quite honest, I don’t think they know what it means. Marketing probably made it up and they’ve stuck with it.

Moreover, AI has been touted as the perfect tool to help reduce manual toil and ease the burden on staff. If the technology delivers on this promise, then why will it be busier for workers?

Will we be busier spending time on those rewarding aspects of our jobs? I have to say, I’m doubtful. The reality is that workers will be pulled into other tasks and merely end up drowning in the same cumbersome workloads they’ve been dealing with since the pandemic.

To Huang’s credit, he does mention the prospect of a four-day week becoming a reality in this AI-powered future. That’s something I think most workers would agree is a positive.

“I fully expect GDP to grow. I expect productivity to increase. I actually expect us to have more things to do,” he said.

“I’m hopeful for that day too, so that we have four-day work weeks… so that we could spend more time on the weekends with family and get some reading done, and do some travelling. Nothing is better than that.”

In this sense, AI could act as an enabler in the natural evolutionary path of working practices, which as Huang points out we’ve already seen change drastically over the last few decades.

“We came from a world of seven-day work weeks,” Huang noted. “Now we’re in five-day work weeks. And every industrial revolution leads to some change in social behaviour. I expect the economy to be doing very well because of AI and automation.”

I’m still not buying it

Call me a cynic, but dreams of a more productive, AI-powered future where workers have four-day weeks and spend time with family sound too good to be true.

First and foremost, big tech firms aren’t in the habit of pushing for healthier working conditions. We’ve seen big tech companies fight tooth and nail to get staff back into the office and, by and large, they’ve prevailed on this despite overwhelming support for hybrid working among staff.

Dell Technologies, Amazon, and Google have all cracked down with strict RTO mandates, with Microsoft reported to be planning a similar move. If AI deployments successfully lighten employee workloads, do you think executives will be content?

Absolutely not. They’re hellbent on squeezing every possible dollar out of the workforce and equally hellbent on justifying the billions they’ve invested in the technology.

AI might help workers do their jobs more efficiently, but if anything that will likely justify further workforce reductions. If ten people have so much spare time, why not just cut them down to five?

Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle have all announced workforce reductions in recent months despite posting strong financial results. If they’re willing to cut staff in these circumstances, they’re willing to do it any time.