Jack Ma counts on AI to standardise 12-hour work week

Jack Ma counts on AI to standardise 12-hour workPeople could work as little as three days a week, four hours a day with the help of technology advances and a reform in education systems, said Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai Thursday.

Ma referred to electricity as an example of how technology can free up time. “The power of electricity is that we make people more time so that you can go to karaoke or dancing party in the evening. I think because of artificial intelligence, people will have more time enjoying being human beings.”

“For the next 10, 20 years, every human being, country, government should focus on reforming the education system, making sure our kids can find a job, a job that only requires three days a week, four hours a day,” Ma said. “If we don’t change the education system we are in, we will all be in trouble.”

Earlier this year, Ma endorsed the China tech sector’s infamous 12-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week routine. The billionaire’s remarks kicked up a storm in China.

“I don’t worry about jobs,” Ma said on Thursday, making an optimistic case that AI will help humans rather than just eliminate their work. “Computers only have chips, men have the heart. It’s the heart where the wisdom comes from.”

Ma said the current education system is built for the industrial period. He said future education systems need to help people become more creative, Bloomberg reported.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who shared the stage with Ma, concurred with the Chinese billionaire and also plugged his Neuralink project that is trying to merge the human brain with AI.

“The way education works right now, it’s really low bandwidth, it’s extremely slow, lectures are the worst,” said Musk. “Down the road with Neuralink you can just upload any subject instantly, it will be like the Matrix.”