Introduction
In Zurich, experts are discussing the profound changes brought by artificial intelligence (AI), specifically systems based on data (SD). These technologies are rapidly transforming various aspects of human life, creating innovative business models and reorganizing entire economies. While AI promises to create new jobs, boost productivity, and expand cognitive abilities, it is also altering labor markets, education, and professional training at an unprecedented pace.
The Double-Edged Sword of SD
SD technologies are reshaping labor markets, education, and professional training. The consequences are becoming increasingly evident: precarious working conditions dictated by algorithm-based platforms, sustained downward pressure on wages, and a structural mismatch between economic needs and workers’ skills.
The critical question arises: Will the growing use of SD render professional, remunerated work obsolete? Historically, technological advancements have sparked fears of mass unemployment, but these concerns have proven unfounded. However, it’s possible that this historical pattern may no longer hold.
Unlike past transformative technologies designed to make human work more efficient or less physically demanding, SD systems are explicitly created to eliminate humans from the value chain entirely. Moreover, unlike previous technological revolutions, these systems are not confined to routine or low-skilled work; they are expanding into areas previously deemed exclusive to humans, such as medical diagnosis and surgery, legal analysis, and cultural production.
The Unprecedented Scale of SD
The current scope and speed of data systems challenge the common assertion that technological innovation always creates more jobs than it destroys. In fact, no historical law guarantees that technological change must always generate more paid work for people. Emerging evidence suggests that SD systems are eliminating entire professions faster than new ones can emerge.
Beyond Job Loss: The Value of Remunerated Work
While fewer working hours and more leisure time may not be inherently negative, the concern lies in what disappears alongside work: wages, the tax base supporting public goods, and the non-economic functions that remunerated employment provides in people’s lives, such as a sense of purpose, identity, and camaraderie.
As fewer people are needed to generate economic value, policymakers must acknowledge the impact of SD on the labor market. At stake is the historical commitment of countries to maximizing employment. Urging workers to reskill and improve their competencies for a labor market that may no longer exist places the onus on individuals for changes beyond their control, rather than implementing a policy framework commensurate with the disruption’s magnitude.
A Proposed Solution: The SERT Model
In a new book, the author, Peter G. Kirchschläger, a professor of ethics and director of the Social Ethics Research Institute (ISE) at the University of Lucerne, ETH Zurich visiting professor, and author of “Ethics and the Transformation of Human Work,” proposes a concrete framework to harness the ethical opportunities of the current technological transformation while mitigating its risks.
The SERT model comprises five pillars:
- A basic income funded by taxes: Designed to cover physical survival needs while preserving a dignified life and respecting human rights.
- Conditional dissociation of income from work: Individuals would contribute a fixed amount of “social time” or valuable work in exchange for basic income, similar to the successful Swiss Civil Service alternative to military service. People would have the freedom to choose from a wide range of activities, with digital administration using SD and blockchain technology for tracking participation.
- Experiencing non-economic functions of work: Individuals would have access to social recognition, daily structure, and a sense of purpose during their time in society.
- Strong incentives for education, research, innovation, and entrepreneurship: Commitments to these areas would reduce or exempt individuals from social time requirements.
- Fair distribution of wealth: As value creation becomes more efficient and generates growing wealth, the central question is how to distribute these gains. Ensuring everyone’s dignity does not depend on overcoming scarcity but on equitably distributing resources. This would require globally coordinated taxation, shifting the burden from labor to capital by taxing data flows, volume, and SD usage.
Conclusion
Failing to address the SD-driven displacement of human workers without a collective response would exacerbate inequality, entrenching injustice and fostering political instability and undermining social cohesion. The SERT model, if adopted, offers a path to shared prosperity and a more stable, peaceful future.
About the Author
Peter G. Kirchschläger
Professor of Ethics and Director, Social Ethics Research Institute (ISE), University of Lucerne
Visiting Professor, ETH Zurich
Author of Ethics and the Transformation of Human Work (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025)
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 1995 – 2026
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