一项2024年的研究发现，93%的受试者因AI的进展而对「意义的缺失」感到焦虑。伦敦市长Sadiq Khan警告说，AI将带来「一个大规模失业的新时代」。反对AI会让生活变得毫无意义的论点，建立在三种谬误之上：赢家通吃谬误、求生者谬误，以及当下主义谬误。

在2016年输给Google DeepMind的AlphaGo之后，围棋选手李世乭退出了这项中国策略棋类，并表示AI「无法被击败」，但10年后，围棋仍然极受欢迎。文中说，人们可以在活动中找到满足感，不必非得打败所有人；而如果通用人工智慧能满足所有需求，更多人或许能沿著Abraham Maslow的需求层次往上走，朝向归属、尊重与自我实现前进。文中也说，被视为工作的事物大多只存在了几十年，而且在许多较富裕国家，年长者回报的幸福感在所有年龄层中最高。

文中说，裁员会造成非常真实的痛苦，既有财务上的，也有心理上的，但主张AI可以帮助重新思考各种制度，让每个人都能过有意义的生活。文中说，较好的福利，包括全民基本收入，是必要但不充分的，并呼吁扩大成人教育的可及性、改善城市设计、发展更广泛的参与式治理形式，以及更容易接触自然。文中引用了Bertrand Russell在1932年的话：「明智地利用闲暇」是「文明与教育的产物」。

A 2024 study found that 93 per cent of participants experienced anxiety about meaninglessness in light of AI advancements. London mayor Sadiq Khan warned that AI will usher in “a new era of mass unemployment”. The argument against the idea that AI will make lives meaningless is built around three fallacies: the winner-takes-all fallacy, the survivalist fallacy, and the presentist fallacy.

After losing to Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo in 2016, Go player Lee Se-dol quit the Chinese strategy game and said AI “cannot be defeated”, but 10 years on, Go remains immensely popular. The text says people can find satisfaction in activities without having to beat everyone else, and that if artificial general intelligence caters to all needs, more people could move up Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs toward belonging, esteem and self-actualisation. It also says that most of what is considered work has only existed for a few decades, and that older people in many wealthier countries report the highest levels of happiness of all age groups.

The text says redundancy causes very real pain, financial and psychological, but argues that AI could help rethink systems so everyone can lead meaningful lives. It says better welfare, including universal basic income, is necessary but not sufficient, and calls for expanded access to adult education, better urban design, broader participatory forms of governance, and better access to nature. Bertrand Russell’s line from 1932 is quoted: “The wise use of leisure” is “a product of civilisation and education.”