Mo Gawdat, a well-known figure in the technology and happiness sectors, has issued a stark warning about the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next 15 years. His vision of short-term dystopia presents a future of work that will look very different, with millions of workers driven into precarious employment and a bleak future. Gawdat’s claims raise questions about the role AI will play in jobs, education, and socioeconomic class. As technology evolves, it never stops affecting every aspect of our world.
In his latest public appearances, Gawdat has shifted his focus to financial outcomes. He cautioned that those who can’t make it into the top 0.01 percent of earners risk living like “a bunch of medieval peasants.” This alarming, black/white binary lens shines an important light on the growing divide. Technological changes are making the wealthy elite more able to isolate themselves from the rest of society. In fact, he calculates as many as 100 million jobs could disappear as AI systems continue to advance in sophistication and self-sufficiency.
The Job Market and the Rise of AI
As Gawdat predicts millions of jobs will be lost, now more than ever is the time for education to change its narrative. The result has been a growing sense of anxiety on the part of parents over their school-aged children’s future job prospects. The rise of AI is making these concerns even more acute. Many are questioning whether current educational curricula adequately prepare students for this uncertain future.
Gawdat’s concerns resonate with the complaints of many educators and industry leaders who are pushing for a fundamental shift in the education curriculum in schools. In recent years, there was a craze to teach coding to children, which many believed was essential for future job security in a technology-driven economy. According to Gawdat, that focus was a little misguided. He advocates for a more balanced approach, suggesting that proficiency in languages like French, Japanese, and Swedish could foster deeper connections with diverse cultures and communities.
“Unless you’re in the top 0.01 per cent, you’re a peasant.” – Mo Gawdat
AI is changing at an astonishing rate. To be successful, students need to build capacity that enables them to meaningfully collaborate and coordinate with others. You might not realize it, but you’re packed full of technical expertise and priceless soft skills. These cultural competencies cognition, empathy, flexibility will prove invaluable in our globalized world.
The Cultural Shift in Education
The issue of curriculum reform has been spurred by an increasing public discussion as high-profile figures weigh into the debate. Movie star Hugh Grant has been leading campaigns in Great Britain to ban screens in schools entirely. He’s an advocate for stepping away from the digital and networked forms of learning, back to the learning rooted in deep creativity, compassion and human connection. His work is a complement to the rising tide of concern about the over-reliance on technology in our schools.
Gawdat reflects on his time spent working in technology. Even more ambitious, Schwab argues that even though technology was intended to improve human life, if done right, it has ironically caused its decline. He just so happens to consider himself a “happiness guru.” With his deep experience in building technology, he professes to know what actually brings people joy. This view pushes against the dominant discourse that all tech integration is good integration.
The comparison drawn by Gawdat between modern-day Luddites—those resistant to AI—and historical movements against industrialization invites further examination of societal attitudes toward technological change. It raises questions about whether society is prepared to confront the challenges posed by AI or if it will continue to embrace new technologies without sufficient scrutiny.
The Economic Implications of AI
The economic landscape that AI is creating seems like a zero-sum game of tall-poppy musical chairs. When the music stops, only a few of these funding lucky ducks will remain. In order to fund their fledgling startups, investors of AI startups need to assure their stakeholders that these massive job losses are right around the corner. In the absence of certainty, fear is driving investment decisions. This environment is anathema to the optimistic imaginations of a better, more productive world where all that labor is augmented by intelligent machines.
Other researchers have sounded alarms that this circularity in the AI economy could increase inequality. Most importantly, they stress the urgent need for proactive measures to curb this trend. Without intentional intervention, an equity divide will deepen. Innovation breeds the early adopters who thrive with new technologies just as it creates those who cannot get up to speed. Such injustices might exacerbate social inequities that are already deepened by the AI age, fueling societal discord and distrust.
As the world continues to adapt to these manifold challenges, educators, policymakers, and industry leaders need to work in concert to reinvent approaches to education. If anything, the demand for sweeping, transformative change aimed at fostering critical thinking, creativity, and strong interpersonal skills is greater than ever.
