Bernie Sanders: If AI Is This Efficient, Americans Should Work Only Four Days a Week
As artificial intelligence is celebrated as the next great engine of productivity, Senator Bernie Sanders is asking a question that cuts to the heart of the modern economy: who actually benefits from that productivity? For Sanders, the answer should not be limited to CEOs, shareholders, or the owners of technology. Instead, he argues, the gains created by AI must flow back to workers in the form of shorter workweeks, greater security, and better quality of life.
Speaking recently on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Sanders — who ran for U.S. president twice and remains one of the most influential progressive voices in American politics — laid out a vision that challenges how technological progress has been handled for decades. If AI tools make workers more productive, he said, the response should not be layoffs, wage stagnation, or heavier workloads. The response should be fewer working hours without a cut in pay.
“Technology should work for all of us, not just the people who own the technology,” Sanders said. “If you’re a worker and your productivity goes up because AI helps you do your job better, then instead of firing you, we reduce your workweek to 32 hours.”
A Human-Centered Vision of AI
Sanders’ argument is rooted in a long-standing critique of how automation and innovation have been managed in capitalist economies. Historically, new technologies have boosted output and corporate profits, but workers have often seen little benefit beyond the promise of efficiency — and sometimes have paid a heavy price through job losses or intensified labor.
AI, Sanders warned, risks repeating this pattern on an even larger scale. From customer service to journalism, logistics, healthcare, and software development, AI systems are rapidly being deployed to perform tasks once done exclusively by humans. While companies tout efficiency and cost savings, workers fear displacement, surveillance, and burnout.
Sanders’ proposal flips the narrative. Instead of asking how many jobs AI can replace, he asks how much time it can give back to people.
“Why should workers be the next victims of automation?” he asked. “If technology allows us to do the same amount of work in less time, then people should have more time to live their lives.”
The Case for a Four-Day Workweek
The idea of a four-day, 32-hour workweek is not new, but AI has given it fresh urgency. Sanders argues that the productivity gains promised by AI make such a shift not only possible, but necessary.
Under his vision, workers would maintain their full pay while working fewer hours, using AI-assisted productivity to offset the reduced time. The benefits, he says, would extend far beyond the workplace: more time for family, education, rest, civic engagement, and mental health.
Critics, particularly business leaders, often dismiss the idea as unrealistic or harmful to competitiveness. But Sanders points to growing real-world evidence that challenges those assumptions.
Real-World Examples Already Exist
Several high-profile experiments with four-day workweeks suggest that shorter hours do not necessarily mean lower output — and may even improve performance.
In the United Kingdom, 61 companies employing about 2,900 workers participated in a large-scale four-day workweek trial in the second half of 2022. Among the 23 companies that shared financial data, average revenue rose by 1.4% over the trial period. Many companies reported improved employee well-being, lower turnover, and sustained productivity.
In the United States, the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter adopted a four-day workweek in 2021. Company leaders later reported that productivity held steady while employee satisfaction improved.
Perhaps the most striking example comes from Microsoft Japan, which tested a four-day workweek in 2019 and reported a 40% increase in productivity, along with reduced electricity use and lower office costs.
“These are not radical experiments anymore,” Sanders noted. “They’re working in the real world.”
Who Owns the Gains of Productivity?
At the core of Sanders’ argument is a moral question. For decades, U.S. worker productivity has steadily increased, yet wages have largely stagnated when adjusted for inflation. The benefits of growth have flowed overwhelmingly to the top — executives, investors, and corporations — while working families struggle with rising costs and longer hours.
AI, Sanders warns, could dramatically accelerate this imbalance unless deliberate policy choices are made.
“If AI increases productivity and all of that money goes to the top 1%, then what kind of society are we becoming?” he asked. “Technology should improve human life, not make inequality worse.”
Sanders has long supported policies such as higher taxes on the wealthy, stronger unions, and expanded social safety nets. In the AI era, he sees reduced working hours as another essential tool for ensuring fairness.
A Cultural Shift, Not Just a Technical One
Implementing a four-day workweek would require more than technological capability. It would demand a cultural and political shift in how work is valued in American society.
The U.S. remains one of the most work-intensive wealthy nations, with longer average working hours and fewer labor protections than many European countries. Critics argue that reducing hours could hurt competitiveness or burden small businesses.
Sanders counters that the real threat to competitiveness is burnout, inequality, and a workforce stretched to its limits.
“We should not measure success by how exhausted people are,” he said. “We should measure it by how healthy, creative, and fulfilled they are.”
A Question for the Tech Industry
As AI reshapes the global economy, Sanders’ message poses a direct challenge to the technology sector: innovation for whom?
If AI is used primarily to cut costs, concentrate wealth, and replace workers, it will deepen public distrust and social instability. But if its benefits are shared — through shorter workweeks, higher wages, and greater security — it could mark a turning point toward a more humane economy.
“Use technology to benefit workers,” Sanders said. “That means more time with family, more time to learn, more time to live.”
As AI continues its rapid advance, Sanders’ call raises a question that policymakers, businesses, and voters will increasingly have to confront: will the future of work be defined by greater freedom — or by deeper inequality?
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