'Billionaires Were Wrong': Why AI Didn't Live Up To The 4-Day Work Promise

A few years ago, tech billionaire Bill Gates has predicted that within the next 10 years, most people may only need to work two days a week. He added that artificial intelligence (AI) will make traditional five-day workweeks unnecessary. In 2024, Steve Cohen, the billionaire owner of the Mets, made a similar prediction -- "four-day work week is coming thanks to advances in AI". Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban had a similar opinion -- "AI will allow employees to work fewer hours while earning the same pay". 

The list goes on. For years, the AI dream came with a tempting bonus: less work. The pitch was simple. If machines could take over repetitive tasks and make workers more productive, why should people still spend five days a week in office? A four-day workweek, or even a three-day one, seemed like the logical next step.

But AI is entering workplaces at full speed, and that promise is looking increasingly distant. Instead of giving employees an extra day off, companies are using AI to raise output, move faster and get more done with smaller teams.

AI Is Making Work Faster, Not Shorter

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said he does not expect AI to bring about a four-day workweek. His view is that people are likely to remain busy even as technology makes them more productive.

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has similarly pushed back against the idea that productivity gains should automatically translate into more time off. The bigger opportunity, he argues, is to use those gains to build more products and achieve more.

This is already becoming visible inside workplaces. "AI has not necessarily made the workweek shorter; instead, it is raising the bar for productivity. As organisations achieve more with leaner teams, the workplace is also being redefined around faster collaboration, sharper decision-making and more purposeful interactions," said Vijay Sharma, Managing Director, Optoma Technology (India).

The workplace itself is changing too. "Offices and meeting rooms are evolving from spaces where people simply gather to spaces where ideas are exchanged and decisions get made," Sharma said.

He added that interactive displays, connected audio-visual systems and collaboration tools can help employees share information, bring remote teams into discussions and reduce friction in hybrid meetings. At Optoma India, he said, the focus is shifting from simply equipping meeting rooms to creating spaces that help teams collaborate and work more effectively.

The AI Productivity Disconnect

There is another problem with the four-day-week theory. Saving time does not necessarily mean producing more.

Data from the Bank of Korea found that workers using generative AI took 3.8 per cent less time to complete the same tasks. That works out to roughly 1.5 hours saved every week.

Sounds promising. But the central bank found essentially no correlation between the time saved and higher output. It described the phenomenon as an "AI productivity disconnect".

In simple terms, workers finished tasks faster. But the extra time did not automatically turn into more work being produced.

This raises an uncomfortable question: if AI saves an hour, who gets that hour? For now, businesses appear more likely to capture the benefit through higher productivity than hand it back to employees as leisure.

The Four-Day Week Was Never Really a Promise

Sidharth Thakur, Director, Grassik Search, believes much of the confusion comes from how the original predictions were interpreted. "The four-day work week was a prediction, not a promise. Certain tech billionaires did mention this, although they also said that it may come true 20 to 40 years out," Thakur said.

There was another part of the prediction that often got lost. "They also said that AI would eliminate jobs first. Also, it came from American billionaires talking about American workplaces," he added.

Indian companies have traditionally placed a strong emphasis on growth, scale and long working hours. "Indian entrepreneurs have not had any conversations around shorter workweeks; some, in fact, have famously recommended longer working days," Thakur said.

His argument is blunt. When a company can produce more with fewer employees, the immediate benefit usually appears in its financials. It does not necessarily show up as fewer hours for the remaining workforce. "When a company gets more done with fewer people, the savings show up in the P&L. It does not reduce working hours," he said.

So, Where Did The Extra Time Go?

AI has not failed to make people more efficient. It has changed what companies expect from that efficiency.

If a task that once took two hours now takes one, the expectation may not be that the employee leaves an hour early. Instead, that hour can be spent on another task, another project or another deadline.

And that is perhaps the biggest reason the four-day workweek has remained elusive. Technology does not decide how productivity gains are distributed. Businesses do.

For now, companies are choosing growth over shorter workweeks. AI may eventually make the traditional five-day week look outdated. But that change will depend on more than technology. It will require companies and workers to agree on who gets to benefit from the productivity dividend.