The Post-Work Society: When 99% of Labor Is Automated, What Comes Next?

Author(s): Younes Khadraoui, PhD

Originally published on Towards AI.

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Imagine waking up tomorrow to a world where 99% of the labor we know today — manual, cognitive, creative — is automated. Not just replaced in part, but fully managed by AI systems and robotic infrastructures operating with inhuman precision and speed. What does it mean for society when work — the cornerstone of identity, structure, and value exchange — becomes obsolete for nearly everyone?

This is not a sci-fi utopia or a techno-dystopia. It’s a trajectory that, however improbable it may seem in the short term, is increasingly plausible as exponential advances in AI, robotics, and infrastructure reshape what “productive labor” even means.

But with automation comes a cascade of fundamental questions: What happens when humans are no longer needed for production? What value do people bring in a world where machines do it all? And how do we build a functioning society around abundance instead of scarcity?

Our current economic model is built on a basic principle: distributed value creation. You produce something — labor, services, products — that others need, and in exchange, you receive money, which you use to acquire what others produce.

Money is a proxy for labor. It’s the standardized unit that lets a baker trade with… Read the full blog for free on Medium.

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Published via Towards AI