The fear of AI is over all time high. Generally speaking, there is no fear of a Skynet-style superintelligent singularity seizing power, but perhaps something equally sinister: life under capitalism continues as usual, with one important difference – AI has made human labor obsolete.
A new survey Nearly 1,000 executives across the United States were surveyed by the consulting firm Mercer. A surprising 98 percent of them say they have made major organization design changes to operations around AI, while 99 percent expect AI to lead to layoffs in the next two years.
Mercer Report, first covered by techspotWorkers’ well-being also witnessed a decline as AI discussions dominate the break rooms. In 2024, the Mercer Worker Sentiment survey found that 66 percent of employees said they are “thriving” in the workplace. By 2026, this number had fallen to only 44 percent.
Additionally, the number of workers reporting being “dissatisfied” has skyrocketed, with more than 20 percent of workers surveyed admitting that they are “dissatisfied but… they have no choice at this point and they are here to stay for the next 12 months.”
How human resources managers plan to deal with this workplace fatigue – a symptom of a rapidly declining labor market, not to mention stagnant wages across the board – is equally worrisome. Over the next two years, 49 percent of HR professionals say incorporating worker sentiment with behavioral data will become “important” for labor management on the job. Another 44 and 43 percent said the same always-on monitoring platform And AI chatbotRespectively.
For the world’s business owners and corporatists, that’s what AI’s purpose is: to discipline human labor. It is a large-scale economic process by which capitalists weaken the bargaining power of workers through systemic mechanisms. loansaid gig economy, Unemployment, deskilling – and, according to some theorists, even nuclear family.
In and out of the workplace, AI promotes these mechanisms, loss of labor power Demanding change or even retaining basic concessions like health care and pensions – labor rights reluctantly stripped from corporations decades of workplace conflict.
The technology doesn’t even need to be particularly effective to achieve any of this. Business leaders like Shopify CEO Toby Lutke are already using AI to get more value from their employees, while venture capitalists use Explore Equity Back from them. In some cases, managers are even using AI chatbots to decide who to fire.
Overall the picture is quite serious. The world’s richest men and women have made it clear why they want AI. The technology may not be living up to their wildest expectations yet, but they are still highlighting it without hesitation. The only question is how workers respond now, before the hellish dystopia we all fear becomes our reality.
More on labour: Major study shows replacing workers with AI is having dire adverse effects
