Brave new world of work? Narratives on AI and the future of work
Many stories are told about AI and the future of work, ranging from mass unemployment to a life of abundance. These narratives are not neutral. They spread values, mobilise resources and, to some extent, bring about the very future they describe. This becomes especially visible when comparing Germany and the United States: where sovereignty and human control take centre stage in Germany, the image of a race dominates in the US. This article examines who tells these futures and who benefits from them.
The debate on the future of work in the age of AI is more contentious than ever. While Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic and thus himself a provider of one of the leading AI models, warns that AI is displacing entry level positions and that young adults in particular face major challenges (Morris, 2026), Elon Musk paints the picture of a utopian future, a “brave new world” in the sense of Aldous Huxley (Huxley, 1932). In this vision, we would no longer have to toil away at work but could live in abundance, since AI and machines would handle literally everything for us (Rogelberg, 2026). Such meaning making stories, which shape how the environment is perceived, are known as narratives.
The sheer volume and contradictory nature of these narratives leaves behind a confusing, often chaotic debate. That is reason enough to take a closer look at the ideas surrounding AI’s role in the future of work.
After all, behind these forecasts and stories lie concrete political and economic interests that influence regulation such as the AI Act, the world’s first comprehensive law by the European Union for the uniform regulation of artificial intelligence. Studies also show that ideas and narratives about AI shape how employees prepare for the future and pursue further training (von Richthofen et al., 2027). American narratives are particularly powerful in this respect. Large models from companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and Microsoft not only dominate the market for AI tools but, in doing so, also influence which topics and perspectives find a hearing in public debate.
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