AI and the Future of Work: What You Need to Know
Your Undivided Attention
2025/12/04
AI and the Future of Work: What You Need to Know
AI and the Future of Work: What You Need to Know

Your Undivided Attention
2025/12/04
Unprocessed episode, you can be the first!
Shownote
Shownote
No matter where you sit within the economy, whether you're a CEO or an entry
level worker, everyone's feeling uneasy about AI and the future of work.
Uncertainty about career paths, job security, and life planning makes thinking
about the future anxiety inducing. In this episode, Daniel Barcay sits down with
two experts on AI and work to examine what's actually happening in today's labor
market and what's likely coming in the near-term. We explore the crucial
question: Can we create conditions for AI to enrich work and careers, or are we
headed toward widespread economic instability?
Ethan Mollick is a professor at the Wharton School of the University of
Pennsylvania, where he studies innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of
work. He's the author of Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI.
Molly Kinder is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where she
researches the intersection of AI, work, and economic opportunity. She recently
led research with the Yale Budget Lab examining AI's real-time impact on the
labor market.
RECOMMENDED MEDIA
Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI by Ethan Mollick
[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/741805/co-intelligence-by-ethan-mollick/]
Further reading on Molly’s study with the Yale Budget Lab
[https://www.brookings.edu/articles/new-data-show-no-ai-jobs-apocalypse-for-now/]
The “Canaries in the Coal Mine” Study from Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab
[https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/publications/canaries-in-the-coal-mine/]
Ethan’s substack One Useful Thing [https://www.oneusefulthing.org/]
RECOMMENDED YUA EPISODES
Is AI Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel [Is AI
Productivity Worth Our Humanity? with Prof. Michael Sandel]
We Have to Get It Right’: Gary Marcus On Untamed AI
[https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/we-have-to-get-it-right-gary-marcus-on-untamed-ai]
AI Is Moving Fast. We Need Laws that Will Too.
[https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/ai-is-moving-fast-we-need-laws-that-will-too]
Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody
Mullins
[https://www.humanetech.com/podcast/techs-big-money-campaign-is-getting-pushback-with-margaret-omara-and-brody-mullins]
CORRECTIONS
1. Ethan said that in 2022, experts believed there was a 2.5% chance that
ChatGPT would be able to win the Math Olympiad. However, that was only among
forecasters with more general knowledge (the exact number was 2.3%). Among
domain expert forecasters, the odds were an 8.6% chance.
2. Ethan claimed that over 50% of Americans say that they’re using AI at work.
We weren’t able to independently verify this claim and most studies we found
showed lower rates of reported use of AI with American workers. There are
reports from other countries, notably Denmark, which show higher rates of AI
use.
3. Ethan indirectly quoted the Walmart CEO Doug McMillon as having a goal to
“keep all 3 million employees and to figure out new ways to expand what they
use.” In fact, McMillon’s language on AI has been much softer, saying that
“AI is expected to create a number of jobs at Walmart, which will offset
those that it replaces.” Additionally, Walmart has 2.1 million employees,
not 3.
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