The Hopkins Forum: Will AI Make Work Obsolete?
This debate is produced in partnership with the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
Topics: Tech, Culture, Politics
Release Date: March 6, 2026
AI systems are now writing code, diagnosing diseases, designing buildings, and even generating art. Tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Google DeepMind, and autonomous robots are reshaping industries once thought immune to automation. Goldman Sachs has estimated that approximately 25% of the global labor market could be lost to AI, sparking fears of a job apocalypse.
Will AI usher in a new era of prosperity and leisure or a future of unemployment and inequality?
Some of those concerned foresee a future where AI becomes so efficient and productive that nearly every job with human laborers will be at risk, generating fears of mass unemployment. Other people see a tool that is transformative and can augment human labor. Even though there may be disruptions to segments of the job market, history has shown that even in the wake of large-scale shifts—such as the industrial and information revolutions—the individual drive to work remained powerful.
As AI is being implemented into our daily lives, we debate the question: Will AI Make Work Obsolete?
As AI is being implemented into our daily lives, we debate the question: Will AI Make Work Obsolete? on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, in Washington, D.C. at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center.
ARGUING YES:
Andrew Yang, CEO, Noble Mobile; Founder of the Forward Party, Former Presidential Candidate
Simon Johnson, Nobel Prize-winning Economist; Professor of Entrepreneurship and Head of the Global Economics and Management Group at MIT
ARGUING NO:
Chris Hughes, Co-founder of Facebook; Chair and Co-founder of the Economic Security Project
Rumman Chowdhury, CEO of Humane Intelligence PBC; Former U.S. Science Envoy for Artificial Intelligence
MODERATOR-IN-CHIEF:
John Donvan: Emmy award-winning journalist
THE HOPKINS FORUM
The Hopkins Forum is a partnership between Open to Debate and Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute. This flagship series consists of live debates in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, bringing together diverse perspectives to tackle today’s most pressing issues.
 | A guest post by
|
It strikes me that when we have these debates about AI and jobs , the focus is people with degrees. I think a better approach would be to focus on people who don’t have that option, what do they do.