• Gates told Jimmy Fallon humans will no longer be needed “for most things” as AI advances at current pace.
• The Microsoft co-founder says intelligence will become “free and commonplace,” with AI handling medical advice, tutoring, manufacturing, and agriculture.
• Critics warn AI hasn’t proven practical benefits yet, could worsen inequality, and leaves workers without purpose rather than liberation.

NEW YORK (TDR) — Billionaire Bill Gates is forecasting a radical transformation of the traditional workweek, predicting that artificial intelligence will make humans obsolete for most jobs within the next decade—potentially reducing work to just two or three days per week.

A World Where Robots Do Everything

Speaking on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in March while promoting his new memoir “Source Code,” the Microsoft co-founder painted a future where AI handles everything from medical diagnoses to food production. “What will jobs be like? Should we just work like 2 or 3 days a week?” Gates asked, suggesting that at the current pace of AI innovation, humans will no longer be needed “for most things.”

Gates envisions artificial general intelligence—AI that can learn, adapt, and perform across a wide range of human tasks—becoming reality within ten years. “With AI, over the next decade, intelligence will become free, commonplace—great medical advice, great tutoring,” he said. The billionaire believes this will solve critical shortages in professions like doctors, teachers, and mental health professionals.

“It’s kind of profound because it solves all of these specific problems like we don’t have enough doctors or mental health professionals, but it brings with it so much change,” Gates told Fallon. “I love the way it’ll drive innovation forward, but I think it’s a little bit unknown whether we will be able to shape it.”

Some Jobs Will Survive—But Not Many

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According to Gates, certain roles will remain in human hands simply because people want them to. “There will be some things that we reserve ourselves for, but in terms of making things and moving things and growing food—over time, those will be basically solved problems,” he explained. Professional baseball players, for instance, would keep their jobs because “we won’t want to watch computers play baseball.”

This isn’t Gates’s first prediction about shrinking workweeks. In 2023, when ChatGPT was still gaining ground, he told Trevor Noah‘s “What Now?” podcast that society might “eventually” reach a three-day workweek norm. “If you zoom out, the purpose of life is not just to do jobs,” Gates said at the time.

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan, has echoed similar sentiments, placing his bet on a three-and-a-half-day workweek. However, his company recently enforced a strict five-day return-to-office policy, suggesting no immediate plans to implement shorter schedules.

The Skeptics Push Back

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Critics have leveled multiple objections to Gates’s optimistic vision. IFLScience pointed out that many workers have found no practical use for current AI iterations—”basically, it is not making the day-to-day workload any better.” Instead of replacing boring or dangerous jobs, AI is primarily being trained to perform creative tasks like writing and art that humans might otherwise do in their leisure time.

Medical AI algorithms, while making strides in predicting certain conditions, continue to show bias against women and people of color. Google‘s AI chatbot Gemini has repeatedly delivered incorrect information despite being placed prominently in search results. “Given that health inequalities already exist within medicine, the deployment of AI is likely to exacerbate them,” researchers warn.

Psychologists also express concern about what happens to human purpose when work disappears. Writing for Inc.com, Jessica Stillman cited research showing that people value things they build themselves more highly—what experts call the “effort paradox.” Studies found that kids find harder games more fun, and amateur runners pay significant money to endure physically miserable marathons.

“Like a retiree who dreamed for decades of post-work leisure but finds the reality of it aimless and depressing, leaders should start to think about what we might do if AI really does deliver the two-day workweek,” Stillman wrote. “A whole bunch of psychology suggests sitting around lounging and scrolling for the other five days would leave you very miserable indeed.”

History Suggests Caution

Historical precedent offers reasons for skepticism. Previous technological revolutions increased efficiency without necessarily reducing working hours. Instead, technology often led to increased expectations and heavier workloads. Some experts argue that even if AI boosts productivity, it may not automatically translate to fewer working hours but rather a shift in how work gets done.

LinkedIn reports that AI literacy is the fastest-growing skill for 2025, suggesting workers who succeed will be those who embrace rather than resist the technology. But questions remain about economic inequality. If only a handful of companies control the most advanced AI tools, will a new elite class emerge—those who own the algorithms?

Environmental concerns add another layer of complexity. AI currently requires exorbitant water usage and has an alarming carbon footprint. Microsoft has already failed some of its climate goals in pursuit of AI development, according to reports.

Global Divide on Work Hours

Gates’s vision contrasts sharply with attitudes in some countries. In India, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy suggested Indians should work 70 hours weekly to remain globally competitive, while Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subrahmanyan advocated for 90-hour workweeks and regretted not making employees work Sundays—comments that sparked significant backlash.

Data from the International Labour Organisation shows India is among the world’s most overworked nations, with 51 percent of its workforce clocking more than 49 hours weekly. Meanwhile, Tokyo’s Metropolitan government recently announced a four-day workweek initiative—though primarily to boost birth rates rather than respond to AI.

Some trials of shorter workweeks have shown promise. One company found that cutting work by one day increased productivity by 24 percent and cut burnout in half. But widespread adoption hasn’t materialized.

As AI advances, the debate intensifies: Will automation usher in an age of leisure and purpose, or will it create mass unemployment and existential crisis? Gates acknowledged the uncertainty: “Legitimately, people are like, ‘Wow, this is a bit scary.'”

Would a two-day workweek powered by AI be liberating or leave millions behind? If robots handled all routine work, what challenge would you choose for yourself? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Follow The Dupree Report for more coverage of artificial intelligence, the future of work, and technological disruption.

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