By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye
There are people who say that artificial intelligence [AI] won’t occupy all labor and those who predict that by 2030, AI will be carrying out 70% of labor. We have thus paused, to ask ourselves “Can’t sufficiently advanced AI combined with robotics eventually perform every economically valuable task humans execute?”
MC Kensey Global Institute, with its 25 November 2025 report titled “Agents, robots, and us: Skill partnerships in the age of AI”, highlights “AI is expanding the productivity frontier. Realizing its benefits requires new skills and rethinking how people work together with intelligent machines. Today’s technologies could theoretically automate more than half of current US work hours. This reflects how profoundly work may change, but it is not a forecast of job losses.
Adoption will take time. As it unfolds, some roles will shrink, others grow or shift, while new ones emerge—with work increasingly centered on collaboration between humans and intelligent machines. Most human skills will endure, though they will be applied differently. More than 70 percent of the skills sought by employers today are used in both automatable and non-automatable work. This overlap means most skills remain relevant, but how and where they are used will evolve.”
However, the wealthiest person the Earth— the world’s first trillionaire, Elon Reeve Musk, who figures among the world’s most influential AI leaders— points out “Robots Will Do ‘So Much Stuff’ We Run Out of Things for Humans to Do — But ‘We’ll Basically Just Issue Money to People’,” according to a 21 July 2026 story by Yahoo.
What MC Kensey Global Institute says about it
This institute explains “In this research, we use ‘agents’ and ‘robots’ as broad, practical terms to describe all machines that can automate nonphysical and physical work, respectively. Although the analysis focuses on the United States, many of the patterns it reveals—and their implications for employers, workers, and leaders—apply broadly to other advanced economies.”
According to MC Kensey Global Institute, work in the future will become a partnership between people, agents, and robots—all powered by artificial intelligence. “While much of the current public debate revolves around whether AI will lead to sweeping job losses, our focus is on how it will change the very building blocks of work—the skills that underpin productivity and growth. Our research suggests that although people may be shifted out of some work activities, many of their skills will remain essential.
They will also be central in guiding and collaborating with AI, a change that is already redefining many roles across the economy. In this research, we use ‘agents’ and ‘robots’ as broad, practical terms to describe all machines that can automate nonphysical and physical work, respectively. Many different technologies perform these functions, some based on AI and others not, with the boundaries between them fluid and changing. Using the terms in this expansive way lets us analyze how automation reshapes work overall.”
The institute says that this report is predicated on McKinsey’s long-running research on automation and the future of work. It adds that while previous studies investigated individual activities, this analysis also assesses how AI will transform entire workflows and what this means for skills. “New forms of collaboration are emerging, creating skill partnerships between people and AI that raise demand for complementary human capabilities. Although the analysis focuses on the United States, many of the patterns it reveals—and their implications for employers, workers, and leaders—apply broadly to other advanced economies.”
“As these technologies take on more complex sequences of tasks, people will remain vital to make them work effectively and do what machines cannot. Our assessment reflects today’s capabilities, which will continue to evolve, and adoption may take decades. AI will not make most human skills obsolete, but it will change how they are used. We estimate that more than 70 percent of today’s skills can be applied in both automatable and non-automatable work.”
The report further explains “With AI handling more common tasks, people will apply their skills in new contexts. Workers will spend less time preparing documents and doing basic research, for example, and more time framing questions and interpreting results. Employers may increasingly prize skills that add value to AI.”
MC Kensey Global Institute says that to measure how skills could evolve, it created a Skill Change Index (SCI). According to the institute, SCI forms a time-weighted measure of automation’s potential impact on each skill used in today’s workforce. The institute expounds “Nearly every occupation will experience skill shifts by 2030. Highly specialized, automatable skills such as accounting and coding could face the greatest disruption, while interpersonal skills like negotiation and coaching may change the least.
Most others, including widely applicable skills such as problem-solving and communication, may evolve as part of a growing partnership with agents and robots. Employers are already adjusting. Demand for AI fluency—the ability to use and manage AI tools—has jumped nearly sevenfold in two years. The need for technical AI skills employed to develop and govern AI systems is also growing, though at a slower pace.”
The institute explains that AI has already been integrated into skill requirements for today workforce. “About eight million people in the United States work in occupations where job postings already call for at least one AI-related skill—a fraction of what may be needed in the years ahead.
Demand is also rising for complementary skills such as quality assurance, process optimization, and teaching, as well as for some physical skills such as nursing and electrical work. In contrast, job post mentions are declining for routine writing and research, both areas where AI already performs well, although these skills remain essential for much of the workforce.”
MC Kensey Global Institute says that in its midpoint scenario of automation adoption by 2030, AI-powered agents and robots could bring approximately $2.9 trillion in US economic value per year. “Capturing this may depend less on new technological breakthroughs than on how organizations redesign workflows—especially complex, high-value ones that rely on unstructured data—and how quickly human skills adapt. Integrating AI will not be a simple technology rollout but a reimagining of work itself—redesigning processes, roles, skills, culture, and metrics so people, agents, and robots create more value together.
Leaders will play a central role in shaping this partnership. The most effective will engage directly with AI rather than delegating, invest in the human skills that matter most, and balance gains with responsibility, safety, and trust. The outcomes for firms, workers, and communities will ultimately depend on how organizations and institutions work together to prepare people for the jobs of the future.”
“AI has made agents and robots more autonomous and capable”
“For much of the past century, machines have been built to follow rules. Robots executed physical routines like assembling parts while software automated predictable clerical and analytical tasks. Both types of machines operated in a predetermined way; they did what they were programmed to do, and little more. The rise of AI has begun to change that and to broaden the scope of what automation can do.
AI agents and robots—machines that perform cognitive and physical work, respectively—are becoming more capable as they learn from vast data sets. This enables them to simulate reasoning and to respond to a wider range of inputs, including natural language, and to adapt to different contexts instead of simply following preset rules,” states the institute.
According to the latter one, the adoption of these technologies will be dictated by a number of issues. “We estimate that today’s technology could, in theory, automate about 57 percent of current US work hours. This figure compares the capabilities of existing technologies, including those demonstrated in a lab, with the level of human proficiency required for different work tasks. As technology advances, the picture will continue to evolve and should be updated regularly.
Actual adoption depends on more than technical capability. Factors including policy choices, labor costs, implementation expenses, and development time all influence when and where automation is deployed. Electricity took more than 30 years to spread, and industrial robotics followed a similar multidecade path. As recently as 2023, only about one in five companies ran most of their applications in the cloud, despite the technology being widely available since the mid-2000s.”
“AI can have an impact on all types of work.”
The institute highlights “We distinguish between physical and nonphysical work. Robots are needed to automate the former, agents the latter. Not all automation requires agents or robots in the narrow technical sense of those terms, but we use them broadly to capture the full range of technologies that automate work.
Nonphysical work accounts for about two-thirds of US work hours. Roughly one-third of those hours draw on social and emotional skills that mostly remain beyond AI’s reach, while the rest involve tasks—such as reasoning and information processing—that are better suited to automation. These more automatable activities represent about 40 percent of total US wages and span roles in fields from education and healthcare to business and legal.”
Nonphysical work necessitates nonphysical capabilities—cognitive skills. In fact, all work demands cognitive capabilities because physical activities may also entail social and emotional skills. MC Kensey Global Institute says “Activities that require physical as well as cognitive capabilities account for about 35 percent of current US work hours. Robots have made major progress, but most physical work still demands fine motor skills, dexterity, and situational awareness that technology cannot yet replicate reliably.
Even so, the effects could be significant for some workers. Physical tasks make up more than half of working hours for about 40 percent of the US workforce, including drivers, construction workers, cooks, and healthcare aides. Advances in robotics are expected to change occupations in areas like production and food preparation, including some lower-wage roles. Robots may also continue to perform work that is hazardous or otherwise unfeasible for people, such as underwater tasks, search and rescue, and inspections of dangerous environments.”
“AI-powered automation will change work, but people remain indispensable”
The institute explains “At current levels of capability, agents could perform tasks that occupy 44 percent of US work hours today, and robots 13 percent. Extending automation further would require technologies that can match a range of human capabilities currently unmatched. Agents would need to interpret intention and emotion. Robots would need to master fine motor control, such as grasping delicate objects or manipulating instruments in surgery.
Tasks occupying more than half of current work hours could potentially be automated, primarily by agents. Yet, that does not mean half of all jobs would disappear; many would change as specific tasks are automated, shifting what people do rather than eliminating the work itself. In addition, work that draws heavily on social and emotional skills remains largely beyond the reach of automation even under a full-adoption scenario.”
MC Kensey Global Institute provides the reason behind its statement that social and emotional skills stand beyond the reach of automation. “This is because many tasks require real-time awareness, such as a teacher reading a student’s expression or a salesperson sensing when a client is losing interest. People also provide oversight, quality control, and the human presence that customers, students, and patients often prefer. As technology advances, the work requiring people will also change as some roles shrink, others expand or shift focus, and new ones are created.”
It gives some typical examples. “Radiology illustrates this dynamic. Between 2017 and 2024, radiologist employment grew by about 3 percent per year despite rapid advances in AI, and it is expected to continue growing. AI augmented radiologists’ work, improving accuracy and efficiency while enabling doctors to focus on complex decision-making and patient care.
The Mayo Clinic, for example, has expanded its radiology staff by more than 50 percent since 2016 while deploying hundreds of AI models to support image analysis. AI is also creating new types of work and roles. Software engineers are creating and refining agents while designers and creators are using generative tools to produce new content.”
The institute provides more insights on work with the least potential of being handled by automation by agents and robots. “People-centric occupations—found, for example, in healthcare and in building and maintenance—make up about one-third of US jobs and pay an average of $71,000 a year. Physical activity that current technologies cannot replicate accounts for about half of the work hours in these occupations.
Roles with the highest potential for automation by agents or robots. These occupations make up about 40 percent of total jobs. With an average pay of $70,000, most are agent-centric roles in legal and administrative services. They involve large shares of cognitive tasks—such as drafting documents—that could technically be handled by AI systems. Some of this work may end up being fully automated, but people will still be needed to guide, supervise, and verify.”
“Overall US demand for labor has remained strong through multiple waves of automation, with new activities having been created faster than technology has replaced existing ones,” adds the institute before pointing out “Yet AI’s broad reach raises concern that this time may be different. The outcome will depend on whether new demand, industries, and roles emerge to absorb displaced workers—a question beyond the scope of this research. If history is a guide, employment is likely to evolve rather than contract, although there is no certainty that AI will follow the same pattern.”
What Musk states
Yahoo starts the story with these words. “The biggest workplace debate of the next decade might not be about asking for a raise. It could be figuring out what to do when the robots have already finished the job. That’s the future Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk painted during a conversation with XPRIZE founder Peter Diamandis at the Abundance Summit in March.
Rather than warning that artificial intelligence will simply replace workers, Musk described a world where AI and humanoid robots become so productive that scarcity itself starts to disappear, leaving governments to rethink how people earn an income. When the Robots Finish Before Lunch. Musk said the explosion in AI and robotics won’t simply automate repetitive work. He believes it could eventually produce more goods and services than people could reasonably consume.”
Yahoo cites Musk as telling Diamandis “Yeah, it’s basically AI and robots are going to make so much stuff and provide so many services that they will actually run out of things to do for the humans. They’ll just run out of things to do for the humans.”
Musk pointed out that if the economy proved hundreds or even thousands of times larger than it stands today, human demand would eventually stagnate while machines continued producing at extraordinary levels. “That abundance, Musk said, changes the economic equation entirely. Rather than focusing on universal basic income, Musk described what he called universal high income, arguing that governments could simply send people money because AI-generated output would dramatically outpace growth in the money supply,” reports Yahoo.
“‘I do think we’ll have universal high income,’ he said. ‘We’re basically just issuing money to people.’ Musk explained that the massive increase in goods and services would create deflationary pressure instead of inflation. ‘So if the rate of growth of goods and services far exceeds the rate of growth of the money supply,’ he continued, ‘then you will have deflation.’”
This media organization adds “Whether Musk’s vision unfolds exactly as he predicts remains to be seen.”
Which will come true? MC Kensey Global Institute’s point or Musk’s?
History has constantly demonstrated that technological revolutions change work rather than simply eliminate it. But AI differs from previous technologies since it is beginning to compete not only with human muscle but also with human cognition. Whether that competition ultimately generates collaboration, as McKinsey anticipates, or the post-work economy Musk forecasts, it remains unknown. What is increasingly difficult to question, though, is that the age when every economically valuable task belonged exclusively to humans is approaching a close.
McKinsey argues that, at least over the coming decades, human skills will continue to evolve alongside intelligent machines and robots rather than vanish. Meanwhile Musk envisions a far more radical destination where automation becomes so productive that human labor stands no longer economically necessary.
“If AI makes human labor obsolete, who decides who gets to eat?” That’s the headline of a story run by The Guardian on 23 February 2026. “Amid talk of artificial intelligence taking our jobs, the big unasked question is: how will we be fed? That’s the biggest question not seriously being addressed amid all this talk about whether or not artificial intelligence will end up taking over all of our jobs.
The technology oligarchs at the helm of this revolution have also vigorously resisted government efforts to curb their power or take their cash. Despite her best efforts, Silicon Valley nemesis Lina Kahn was largely unable to crack tech monopolies during her stint as President Joe Biden’s main trustbuster at the head of the Federal Trade Commission.”
It further states “In the meantime, the moneyed in Silicon Valley are not only mobilizing vast resources to steer American politics. As a plan B they are working to build their own ‘network-states’, whether in Greenland or Nigeria, Honduras or the Caribbean island of Nevis, hoping to evade democratic governance if they can’t get their way under America’s democracy.
Who knows what they might do when they have replaced all human labor. If artificial intelligence grows as powerful as Silicon Valley’s oligarchs expect it to become, the only available strategy to keep us all fed in the world after work might be to go hat in hand and ask the moguls, politely.”
Like the question raised by The Guardian, we also ask ourselves “What will be the essence —purpose, dignity and social value—of humanity, if humans are stripped of jobs, possibly becoming idle for life?”