What is work for? Human wellbeing and the value of work in the AGI era
Google DeepMind Institute (AI lab research) · 29 Oct 2026
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Where this sits in the debate
- Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates?
- Will AI widen inequality? · its finding supports the claim (why studies differ)
Direction of the finding as read from the abstract by an AI model (AI-written).
Key takeaway AI-written
A DeepMind Institute essay introducing new Google DeepMind papers on the value of work for human wellbeing. It argues that policy responses to AI displacing workers focus on income transfers, while the social, cultural and psychological value people get from work is under-explored.
Source excerpt
Speak with any number of friends, and many would surely volunteer to work fewer hours for the same pay, if they could. Economics often treats work as a ‘ disutility’ — something that weighs negatively on overall wellbeing. Yet others love what they do, often because they find their work important and meaningful, for its own sake . What explains the huge divergences in the ways that people relate to their work? Today, there is rightfully significant public concern about the potential for AI to displace workers, shifting the demand for labor across tasks. Existing evidence suggests that, as AI capabilities improve, the technology will diffuse across the economy, disrupting some forms of work while creating others. This transition brings with it risks of increasing inequalities and stagnation of real wages, as well as declining material wellbeing for displaced workers, as the history of technological shocks suggests . In response to AI’s potential impacts on the labor market, proposals generally emphasize the importance of income transfers. Yet the non-monetary social, cultural, and psychological value of work is often under-explored in these discussions. In a series of new papers from Google DeepMind, we study the value that work provides people and what it might mean for policymakers. In “What is Work For? Labor, Politics, and Meaning in the Age of AI” (Section 1), we study the non-monetary value of employment through a large representative survey across four countries. Meanwhile, in “ Work, Wellbeing, and Choice: Empirical Lessons for AI Futures ” (Section 2), we investigate the existing empirical literature on work and wellbeing in real-world transitions (e.g. unemployment, winning the lottery). And in another upcoming paper (Section 3), we explore the ways in which work offers a bundle of benefits, and its implications for human dignity. Collectively, our research explores how people’s work is intimately connected with values beyond material needs. Beyond ensuring
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Lab or institute research, not peer reviewed. A report or blog post published by an AI lab or research institute on its own site. It has not been through independent peer review, and the publisher may have a stake in the findings.
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