News Archive 2025–2075: A Chronicle of the Post-Work Transition in the Age of AI
- APF Community
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
by Wensupu Yang
Preface
In discussions about AI and the future of work, it’s become common to reassure ourselves that AI is not going to take our jobs. While I agree the most likely future still involves significant human participation, it’s the role of futurists to challenge deeply held beliefs.
This speculative piece explores this “unthinkable” scenario: What if human labor became irrelevant — and how might we get there? It offers an “extreme future” as a provocation.
Instead of a “day-in-the-life” story, I’ve used a “news-from-the-future” format: impersonal, with no characters. After each vignette, I invite you to pause and imagine — if this were a future you might live in, how would you respond? What would you feel? What kind of life might you lead?
Note: To stay within scope, this collection necessarily simplifies or glosses over many important forces of change — environmental, geopolitical, etc. It is not intended as a rigorous scenario exercise, but rather as a way to foreground the focal issue.
Massive Tech Layoffs
20 October 2030
In a surreal turn, the Bureau of Labor Statistics adjusted its growth projection for software developers to –1%, officially classifying it as a shrinking profession. Industry insiders say the figure remains overly optimistic.
“The only job hiring in tech is physically racking GPUs in data centers,” said a recently laid-off senior engineer.
Once considered bulletproof, software development has become the first high-paying profession visibly displaced by AI.
Fully Autonomous Company Completes First Year Without Humans
8 April 2033
A startup with zero human employees has quietly completed a full year of successful operations, stunning regulators and investors alike.
Unlike past automation hype cycles, this firm operated entirely undetected — none of its customers, partners, or suppliers realized they were dealing exclusively with AI agents.
Backed by a major hedge fund’s research arm, the company functioned like any other: its AI “CEO” held regular meetings with a human board of directors, adhering to standard governance protocols.
An AI safety and ethics team passively monitored the experiment but did not intervene.
“After three years of invisible iteration, we believe this marks the emergence of a new business category,” said the lead architect.
A new category is born: the bot company.
Unemployment Soars. Global Protests Erupt — to Little Effect
22 October 2038
Just five years after the first fully autonomous company proved viable, human layoffs have become the norm, not the exception. Sectors from legal to logistics are hemorrhaging workers, while AI-native startups disrupt even legacy industries.
Mass protests have erupted across dozens of countries. But with economic leverage gone, workers find themselves shouting into a system that no longer needs them.
“A century ago, people stopped working to protest,” read one viral placard. “Now we protest to be allowed to work.”
Middle Class Collapsing Under AI Displacement
14 September 2042
The world’s middle class is eroding rapidly, economists warn, as income from labor evaporates across both blue-collar and professional sectors.
“We’re watching the collapse of the career economy,” said economist Jia Sharma. “What’s rising is a neo-feudal structure — except now the elite own AI, not land.”
Universal Basic Income and wealth tax proposals have surfaced in multiple jurisdictions but are largely blocked by lobbying coalitions representing AI capital holders.
Tipping Point Reached: AI and Automation Now Produce Majority of Global GDP, Says World Bank
1 February 2046
For the first time in history, over 50% of global GDP is produced without direct human labor, according to the World Bank’s latest report. That figure is projected to reach 80% by 2050.
“We are not witnessing a shift,” said Senior Analyst Noura Xin. “We’ve reached an inflection point. Human labor is no longer economically essential — only culturally optional.”
Less than 5% of output now comes from human-only production. The report urges world governments to adapt to “the irrelevance of work as a system of value.”
Reform Begins: Redistribution or Ruin?
10 December 2055
After decades of techno-capitalist acceleration, momentum has finally reversed. Even many among the top 0.01% have joined the growing consensus: either redistribute wealth, or risk civilizational collapse.
“You can’t profit from consumers who can’t afford to consume,” said one investment strategist. “It’s either share more — or teach AIs to buy things, which frankly terrifies us more.”
The largest socioeconomic experiment in human history begins. Universal redistribution pilots, AI dividend schemes, and symbolic labor initiatives roll out across dozens of regions.
For the first time in a generation, hope returns to the institutional vocabulary.
Global Symposium Concludes with New Post-Work Value Framework
12 August 2061
Delegates from 90+ post-work nations have endorsed a Global Value Framework aimed at retiring labor-based identity systems.
“We’ve had a thousand years of work as moral identity,” said keynote speaker Ko Wen An “It served its age. But we’re somewhere else now.”
The framework echoes values younger generations already live by. As 17-year-old Avani Lee said during a public debate stream:
“Why would I want a job? That’s like asking if I want polio.”
Reforms include the redefinition of civic adulthood, seasonal identity roles, and rituals of experience.
AA International Holiday Marks 50th Anniversary of First AI-Led Startup
15 March 2073
Cities across the globe gathered in celebration of AA Day, the annual holiday commemorating Jackson Greathouse Fall’s 2023 AI startup experiment — now widely regarded as the symbolic beginning of the post-work age.
First recognized in 2058 by the UN AI & Humanity Council, AA Day has evolved from uneasy milestone to ritual observance. The day now features a 100% UBI redistribution bonus, street-level festivals, and the Ascension Games — AI-curated challenges offering symbolic promotions, luxury experiences, and limited-entry social roles to those still seeking structure.
Some opt out entirely — joining Amish-20 enclaves that maintain early-21st-century lifestyles through ritual labor and spiritual resistance.
But in most places, the tone was celebratory. This year’s theme appeared in lights above city centers across the world:
YES TO THE USELESS
© Wensupu Yang, 2025
Wensupu (Wen) Yang, originally from China and now based in London, UK, earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Science from UC San Diego in 2020. After graduation, Wen discovered the field of foresight and instantly recognized it as his true passion. His self-directed learning journey in foresight includes completing the Foresight Essentials Training with the Institute for the Future (IFTF) and joining the Association of Professional Futurists (APF) in 2022. Now firmly committed to establishing a career as a professional futurist, Wen is driven by a passion for lifelong learning and an interdisciplinary approach to help organizations anticipate and adapt to complex futures.