Can Artificial Intelligence Give Our Lives Meaning?

Work is an unavoidable necessity. The promise of autonomous and intelligent systems (A/IS) challenges this central fact of human existence. The anxieties this arouses are puzzling. We ought to be relieved by the prospect of being freed of degrading and precarious work which risks turning each of us into what Karl Marx called a ‘crippled monstrosity’. Instead, we are fearful, not simply of a world without work, but one where there is no point to our human contribution. Life reduced to hobbies and entertainment does not seem worthwhile. In other words, we want a world which can keep creating meaningful work.