Bernie Sanders: If AI is so great, a 4-day work week should be easy

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders recently returned to the Joe Rogan podcast, where he argued that if artificial intelligence makes workers more productive, then the obvious trade-off should be a lighter work week. To be specific, he argued for shifting the work week to just four days.

Sanders made the comments during a June 24 episode of Joe Rogan's podcast.

"You are a worker, your productivity is increasing because we give you AI, right?" Sanders said. "Instead of throwing you out on the street, I’m going to reduce your work week to 32 hours."

He added: "By the way, not a radical idea. There are companies around the world that are doing it, with some success."

Sanders has regularly advocated for a four-day work week and noted the United Auto Workers union pushed hard for it in their latest contract negotiation. Last year, the senator introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, which emphasized that moving to a shorter work week should occur "with no loss in pay."

"Let’s use technology to benefit workers," Sanders said in the interview. "That means, give you more time with your family, with your friends, for education, whatever the hell you want to do — you don’t have to work 40 hours a week anymore." 

It seems unlikely corporate leaders will go along with the idea of rolling back work hours for the same pay, but perhaps one day AI will grant us all more free time.