In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, industrialisation changed the meaning of labour. It created factories, mass production and urban economies, but also long hours, unsafe working conditions and deep social inequalities. The response was not only technological progress, but social progress: the eight-hour day, the weekend, collective bargaining, social protection and labour rights.

Today, artificial intelligence is opening a new chapter in the history of work. It is transforming not only factories and production lines, but also offices, services, public administration, finance, education, research, health care and creative industries. AI can write, analyse, code, design, translate, predict and support decision-making. This creates enormous opportunities for productivity and prosperity, but also difficult questions about jobs, income and the future working week.

The challenge before us is not simply whether AI will replace workers. The deeper question is whether AI will help societies build a better model of work.

The new labour question

According to the International Monetary Fund, artificial intelligence may affect almost 40 percent of jobs globally and around 60 percent of jobs in advanced economies. In some occupations, AI will complement workers and raise productivity. In others, it may reduce demand for certain tasks and skills, with possible effects on wages, hiring and inequality (Cazzaniga et al., 2024; Georgieva, 2024).

The International Labour Organization has also argued that generative AI is more likely to transform jobs than eliminate them entirely, because many occupations contain tasks that can be automated while others still require human judgement, creativity, empathy and responsibility (Gmyrek et al., 2023). The OECD similarly emphasises that AI can improve productivity, job quality and occupational safety, but only if countries act early to manage risks, skills gaps and inequality (OECD, 2025a, 2025b).

This distinction matters. The future of work should not be framed as a battle between humans and machines. The more realistic future is one in which human work is reorganised around intelligent tools. AI may take over repetitive, routine and data-heavy tasks, while people move towards higher-value activities: problem-solving, leadership, care, entrepreneurship, ethical reasoning and complex communication.

But this will not happen automatically. Markets alone will not guarantee a fair transition. Without policy, AI could increase inequality by concentrating gains among capital owners, large technology firms and highly skilled workers. With the right institutions, however, AI can become a productivity engine that supports higher wages, better services, shorter working time and broader social security.

This is why the AI debate must involve a labour debate.

This article is not a positioning in the traditional debate between labour and capital, nor is it a call to frame the AI transformation as a conflict between workers and employers. It is, rather, a call to recognise the deeper change that artificial intelligence is already bringing to our economy, society and everyday life. AI is creating the possibility of a new productivity frontier — one that can increase output, improve services, support innovation and transform the organisation of work. The real policy question is how these productivity gains can be translated into better quality of life: more meaningful work, more time for family and learning, stronger income security, better public services and broader opportunities for human development. In this sense,

The AI debate should not be reduced to redistribution after disruption; it should be elevated into a strategic conversation about how technological progress can serve better quality of life and human progress overall.

The working week as a social achievement

International Labour Day reminds us that the working week was never fixed by nature. It was shaped by productivity, negotiation and policy. The weekend, paid leave, retirement and limits on working hours were once considered radical ideas. Today, they are foundations of modern civilisation.

The AI age invites us to ask a new question: if intelligent technologies allow societies to produce more with less human time, should part of that productivity gain be returned to people in the form of shorter working hours?

The four-day working week is no longer only a theoretical idea. Trials in several countries have shown that, under the right conditions, working time can be reduced while productivity is maintained. In the United Kingdom’s four-day week pilot, involving 61 companies and around 2,900 workers, researchers found that 39 percent of employees were less stressed and 71 percent reported reduced burnout by the end of the trial (Autonomy, 2023).

Of course, such models cannot be applied uniformly across all sectors. Health care, education, manufacturing, logistics, tourism, public administration and small enterprises each have different realities. But the principle is important: productivity should not only mean more output. It should also mean better lives.

A society that uses AI only to increase pressure on workers will miss the true promise of technology.

A society that uses AI to improve productivity, protect income and give people more time for family, learning, health, creativity and civic life will build a more sustainable form of prosperity.

Basic income and the security of transition

The second major question is income security. If AI changes the structure of work, societies will need stronger systems to protect people through transition. This is where the debate on basic income becomes relevant.

Universal basic income is often presented as a simple idea: a regular cash payment to all citizens, without conditions. The World Bank defines UBI as a cash transfer delivered universally, unconditionally and without targeting; its strength lies in dignity, simplicity and security, while its challenges include fiscal cost, design, incentives and political feasibility (Gentilini et al., 2020).

For many countries, including small and open economies, a full universal basic income may not be immediately realistic. But the broader concept deserves serious attention. The future may require hybrid models: targeted cash transfers, guaranteed minimum income, wage insurance, unemployment support, child benefits, lifelong learning accounts and portable social benefits for workers moving between jobs, platforms and sectors.

These instruments may be more practical than a pure universal basic income, while still addressing the same problem: how to give people security in an economy of constant change.

The purpose of income security should not be to discourage work. It should be to support participation. When people are protected from extreme insecurity, they can retrain, search for better jobs, start businesses, care for family members and contribute more fully to society.

In the AI economy, security and flexibility must go together. Workers will need to adapt, but institutions must also adapt around them.

A productivity dividend for society

If AI creates large productivity gains, we must ask how these gains will be shared. This is the political economy of artificial intelligence.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 highlights that technology, the green transition, demographic change and geoeconomic fragmentation are reshaping jobs and skills across the 2025–2030 period, based on the views of more than 1,000 global employers representing over 14 million workers (World Economic Forum, 2025).

The European Union has also placed AI within a broader framework of competitiveness, rights and trust. The EU’s AI Act is described by the European Commission as the first comprehensive legal framework on AI, designed to address risks while positioning Europe to play a leading global role (European Commission, 2025). In the labour market, the Commission emphasises that advanced digital technologies can raise productivity and create opportunities for quality jobs if they are properly managed and implemented (European Commission, 2026).

For transition economies, this question is equally strategic. The EBRD stresses that digital infrastructure, digital transformation and digital technologies can help countries of operation use the digital economy to advance sustainable and open-market transition. Its latest transition analysis also places artificial intelligence among the major forces shaping transition economies, alongside migration and demographic change (EBRD, 2025, 2026).

This calls for a new idea: an AI productivity dividend. Part of the value created by AI should return to society through better education, digital infrastructure, reskilling programmes, health systems, social protection and innovation support for small and medium-sized enterprises.

This does not mean punishing innovation. On the contrary, it means making innovation socially sustainable. Business needs skilled workers, stable societies and trusted institutions. Citizens need opportunity, protection and fair participation in the gains of progress. The state must therefore act not as an obstacle to technology, but as a strategic partner in shaping its direction.

A human-centred future of work

On this International Labour Day, the central message is clear:

AI should not reduce the value of human labour. It should raise the value of human life.

The UNDP’s Human Development Report 2023/2024 warns that uneven development, inequality and polarisation are creating a dangerous global gridlock, while calling for renewed cooperation and institutions capable of managing interdependence (UNDP, 2024). In the AI age, this message is highly relevant: technology without cooperation can widen divides, but technology guided by human development can expand freedom, capability and opportunity.

A human-centred AI economy should be built on several principles. First, productivity must serve shared prosperity, not only private profit. Second, shorter working time should become part of the policy conversation where productivity allows it. Third, income security must be modernised for a labour market in constant transition. Fourth, lifelong learning must become a permanent pillar of economic policy. Fifth, institutions must be strong enough to guide technological change in the public interest.

For countries in Southeast Europe and the wider European neighbourhood, this agenda is especially important. AI can help smaller economies overcome structural barriers, improve public services, support business competitiveness and connect more effectively to global markets. But this requires investment in skills, digital infrastructure, governance and innovation ecosystems. Otherwise, the AI divide may become another development divide.

The future of work will not be determined by technology alone. It will be determined by the choices we make as societies.

International Labour Day was born from the struggle for dignity in the industrial age. In the AI age, the struggle is not the same, but the principle remains unchanged: economic progress must serve people.

The question is not whether machines will become more intelligent. They will. The question is whether our institutions, policies and leadership will become wiser.

If AI gives us the capacity to produce more, then we must have the wisdom to live better.

References

Autonomy. (2023). The results are in: The UK’s four-day week pilot. Autonomy.

Cazzaniga, M., Jaumotte, F., Li, L., Melina, G., Panton, A. J., Pizzinelli, C., Rockall, E., & Tavares, M. M. (2024). Gen-AI: Artificial intelligence and the future of work (Staff Discussion Note No. 2024/001). International Monetary Fund.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (2025). Transition report 2025–26. EBRD.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. (2026). Digitalisation. EBRD.

European Commission. (2025). AI Act. European Commission.

European Commission. (2026). The future of work. Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

Gentilini, U., Grosh, M., Rigolini, J., & Yemtsov, R. (Eds.). (2020). Exploring universal basic income: A guide to navigating concepts, evidence, and practices. World Bank.

Georgieva, K. (2024, January 14). AI will transform the global economy. Let’s make sure it benefits humanity. International Monetary Fund.

Gmyrek, P., Berg, J., & Bescond, D. (2023). Generative AI and jobs: A global analysis of potential effects on job quantity and quality (ILO Working Paper No. 96). International Labour Organization.

OECD. (2025a). AI and work. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

OECD. (2025b). Future of work. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

United Nations Development Programme. (2024). Human Development Report 2023/2024: Breaking the gridlock—Reimagining cooperation in a polarized world. UNDP.

World Economic Forum. (2025). The Future of Jobs Report 2025. World Economic Forum.

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