Jeff Bezos says AI could let some people support a family working three days a week
JUST IN: Billionaire Jeff Bezos says AI could allow people to work just 3 days a week and support families on one income.
Context
One of the best known tech founders argues AI productivity gains will shorten work weeks and even cause labor shortages, not only cut jobs.
Bezos made the comments in an exclusive interview with Bret Baier on Fox News' Special Report, recorded on Blue Origin's factory floor in Cape Canaveral and aired October 7. He is the founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, and Fox News describes him as a cofounder and co chief executive of the AI company Prometheus. The clip spread widely on X on October 8.
Deep dive
According to Fox News, Bezos predicted productivity gains could let some families live on one income or support themselves with a shorter work week. "Some people will also decide, you know what? I can support my family by working three days a week," he said. "That's what productivity in the economy means."
He argued the gains could create a labor shortage. "It's going to actually be difficult to hire people," he said, because if people do not want to work two jobs, they will not have to.
Baier challenged him on the roughly 30,000 corporate roles Amazon has cut since late last year. Bezos said Amazon was in a special position after expanding its workforce heavily during the pandemic, and said he disagreed with those predicting a darker outcome for jobs.
Bezos said Prometheus aims to build an "artificial general engineer" that helps people turn ideas into physical products. Asked whether AI is a bubble, he said it is "very hard to know," adding that inventions do not disappear when a bubble pops. He called for light regulation focused on harmful uses, and pointed to Blue Origin's Project Sunrise, which has applied to launch more than 50,000 satellites as orbital data centers.
What to expect next
Bezos's prediction runs against widespread worries that AI will mainly eliminate jobs. Hiring and wage data, and Amazon's own staffing decisions, will be the real test of it.
Watch for more detail on Prometheus and its artificial general engineer, for progress on Blue Origin's orbital data center application with the FCC, and for whether other executives echo the shorter work week idea or push back on it.