The Guardian interactive report explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping the world of work in early 2026, triggering anxiety and debate about job security, inequality, and the balance of power between workers and employers. With rapid advances in AI automation and generative systems that can perform increasingly complex tasks, many workers across industries — from blue-collar roles to white-collar offices — worry about being displaced or pushed into precarious gigs. A 2025 Pew Research survey found that 64% of Americans expect AI to reduce jobs, reinforcing fears that automation could shrink opportunities rather than expand them.
Yet the article also highlights a counter-narrative: that the disruption AI brings could spur collective action and renewed solidarity among workers. As traditional employment models come under pressure, previously siloed groups are finding common cause in pushing for better protections, clearer bargaining power, and a voice in how AI is deployed. This shift is dissolving some historic class divides, prompting calls for a future of work that not only incorporates AI but also empowers workers to shape its impact rather than be passively affected by it.
Experts such as Sarita Gupta of the Ford Foundation and scholars like Lisa Kresge from the University of California, Berkeley argue that AI’s disruptive force could invigorate labor movements and elevate longstanding workplace justice issues, including pay inequality, worker surveillance, and precarious employment conditions. They suggest that rising concern about AI’s effects on employment might translate into stronger worker organisations and public demand for policies ensuring that AI benefits are broadly shared, not concentrated at the top.
Ultimately, The Guardian suggests that the future of work in an AI-powered world is not predetermined. Whether AI exacerbates inequality and eliminates jobs without adequate support — or becomes a catalyst for more equitable work systems — depends largely on how societies govern AI, how workers are included in decision-making, and whether labour influence is strengthened in the AI era.
