Who around the world is researching what a society with less work would mean, where you can find data yourself and how to keep up with the topic. We include only what we checked on the original page (as of 29 October 2026); we deliberately do not list event dates here.
This is where the people who shape the debate work: universities, international organisations and independent think tanks. They produce the studies, the concepts and often the figures that later appear in newspapers.
The selection is not complete. It includes only what we checked on the original page (as of 29 October 2026).
The UN's International Labour Organization measures how exposed occupations around the world are to generative AI. According to its 2025 update, about one in four workers is in an occupation with some exposure; most jobs are more likely to change than to disappear.
Source: ILO, 2025
Frey leads the Future of Work Programme at the University of Oxford. His 2013 study with Michael Osborne is seen as the starting point of the current automation debate; his book How Progress Ends came out in 2025.
Source: Oxford Martin School, 2026
A research project of the Oxford Internet Institute and WZB Berlin that rates platform work against five principles: fair pay, conditions, contracts, management and representation. Its country reports cover about 38 countries, including Germany in 2026.
Source: Fairwork, 2026
The Brussels think tank asks how the EU labour market can become more resilient to AI. It published a policy brief on this in March 2026.
Source: EPC, 2026
The University of Virginia economist works on the economics of transformative AI and has also been at the Peterson Institute (PIIE) in Washington since February 2026. In 2026 he co-organised a statement by more than 200 economists on AI's transformation of the economy.
Source: PIIE, 2026
An organisation that aims to prepare governments for AI-driven economic disruption and pursues the idea of a global fund. It was spun out of a Future of Life Institute project in late 2024.
Source: Future of Life Institute, 2026
Anyone thinking about a society with less work soon comes to two tools: money without conditions and shorter working hours. Here you will find the main network and some well-documented trials.
The results cannot simply be scaled up to whole countries: the pilots are small and time-limited, and how to interpret them is disputed.
The global basic income network has existed since 1986 and is the umbrella for the national networks. Its website regularly publishes news, articles and podcast links.
Source: BIEN, 2026
107 people received 1,200 euros a month for three years, compared with 1,580 people who received nothing; the evaluation was led by DIW Berlin together with WU Vienna and others. Result in 2025: no withdrawal from work, but better mental health; the authors say the sample is small and not representative.
Source: DIW Weekly Report 15/2025
In 2017 and 2018, 2,000 randomly selected unemployed people received 560 euros a month with no conditions. According to the final results in 2020, the effects on employment were small, but wellbeing and trust were higher.
1,000 dollars a month for three years; the study was co-funded by, among others, OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. Recipients worked somewhat less, on average about 1.3 hours a week (results 2024).
Source: OpenResearch, 2024
Instead of money for everyone, the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London proposes free basic services such as childcare, social care, transport and digital information. In 2019 it estimated the cost for the UK at about 2.3 per cent of GDP; the model has not yet been tested.
Source: UCL, 2019
In 2024, 45 organisations tested shorter working hours, with research support from the University of Münster. According to the campaign group 4 Day Week Global, 70 per cent were still working reduced hours in some form two years later, in February 2026.
Source: 4 Day Week Global, 2026
Much of the debate takes place in Europe and the USA. Voices from Africa, Latin America and Asia matter, but we were able to check their original sources less often. This section is therefore deliberately short; it will grow.
In its Just AI Lab, the African think tank studies how AI is changing work and inequality in Africa. Among other things, it has analysed the AI strategies of Kenya, Egypt, Mauritius and Zambia.
Source: Research ICT Africa, 2025
Fairwork works with local teams whose latest reports (2025/26) cover, for example, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Jordan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. In Ecuador it also works with FLACSO on platform cooperatives.
Source: Fairwork, 2026
Japan's government institute for labour policy studies AI and work in a country short of workers. According to a report from January 2026, only 8.4 per cent of employees in Japan used AI at work, the lowest of eight countries compared.
Source: JILPT, 2026
Austria has no research centre of its own on post-work, but it has strong building blocks: economic research, opinion surveys and two studies of one place that are cited internationally. Marienthal stands for both: the consequences of unemployment in 1933 and a job guarantee trial from 2020.
The Austrian Institute of Economic Research has studied how Austrian firms use AI. According to its monthly report 11/2025, about 30 per cent of firms use AI, and 13.2 per cent expect job losses.
Source: WIFO, 2025
A survey by the market research company Ipsos (April 2026, 800 respondents): 51 per cent expect AI to cost jobs overall, but only 20 per cent fear for their own job. 68 per cent already use AI.
Source: Ipsos Austria, 2026
From 2020, the public employment service of Lower Austria offered every long-term unemployed person in Gramatneusiedl a job, with an evaluation by the University of Oxford. Long-term unemployment there almost disappeared and wellbeing improved; whether this works at scale is an open question.
Source: University of Oxford, 2025
The study by Marie Jahoda, Paul Lazarsfeld and Hans Zeisel showed what unemployment does to an entire community. An online archive at the University of Graz makes it accessible.
Source: University of Graz, archive
Researchers at Johannes Kepler University Linz tested Jahoda's idea of the latent functions of work, such as daily structure and social contact, on a representative German sample (2010). A Linz contribution to the question of what might be missing without paid work.
Source: JKU, 2010
These sources are updated regularly. If you want to check for yourself how AI and work are developing, you will find first-hand figures here.
We derived the update rhythms from past publications; the publishers mostly do not confirm them officially. Some trackers come from AI companies themselves, which have their own interest in the topic; they are labelled.
The Yale researchers keep checking whether the US labour market has changed noticeably since ChatGPT; so far they have found little sign of it. Rhythm: updates announced roughly monthly.
Source: Yale Budget Lab, 2026
The AI company Anthropic shows what its Claude model is used for by occupation, task and region; the data is open (CC-BY). Rhythm: roughly quarterly, most recently on 26 June 2026.
Source: Anthropic, 2026
According to the AI company OpenAI, about 14 per cent of EU employment is in occupations with higher automation potential, while about 12 per cent may grow (June 2026). Rhythm: irregular, following a US edition in April 2026.
Source: OpenAI, 2026
The International Labour Organization's database offers labour market data for almost every country, also through an API and bulk download. Rhythm: ongoing.
Source: ILO, 2026
An ILO online tool shows how exposed individual occupations are to generative AI. Rhythm: irregular, with editions so far in 2023 and 2025.
Source: ILO, 2025
Stanford University's annual report collects figures on AI investment, adoption and jobs. According to the 2026 edition, the share of organisations using AI rose from 55 per cent (2023) to 88 per cent (2025); rhythm: annual, around April.
Source: Stanford HAI, 2026
The international robotics industry federation counts industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees: in 2024 the figure was 132 worldwide, 1,220 in South Korea and 449 in Germany. Rhythm: annual, robot density around spring, full report around the end of September.
Source: IFR, 2026
The World Economic Forum's report is based on a survey of more than 1,000 employers. The 2025 edition expects 170 million new jobs and 92 million displaced jobs by 2030; rhythm: every two years, most recently in January 2025.
Source: WEF, 2025
The market research company Ipsos asks people in 30 countries whether they expect AI to replace their job. In 2025 the average was 35 per cent, with 74 per cent in Thailand and 26 per cent in the USA; rhythm: annual, around June.
Source: Ipsos, 2025
If you want to keep up with the topic without reading every study yourself, you will find curated overviews here. The selection is small and will grow once more sources have been checked.
A newsletter that summarises research and policy on the economics of AI every two weeks. Useful for keeping track of studies and debates.
Source: Windfall Trust, 2026
A weekly Substack round-up of news on AI and work. More a news digest than analysis.
Source: The AI/Labor Report, 2026
On the Extrapolate Podcast, the BIEN co-founder talks about precarity, basic income and the future of work (February 2026). A good introduction to the arguments for basic income.
Source: Extrapolate Podcast, 2026
An open online bibliography by the philosopher Jean-Philippe Deranty (Macquarie University) covering about 100 topics, from automation and basic income to the four-day week. It sets positions for and against work side by side.
Source: For Work / Against Work