Jeff Bezos says AI could power a return to single-earner households as it turbocharges productivity

Jeff Bezos says AI could lead to a labor shortage by enabling people to work less. Stacy Revere/Getty Images Jeff Bezos says many families will return to having just one working parent as AI drives increased productivity.Speaking to Fox News in an interview on Wednesday evening, the Amazon founder said the workplace efficiency gains he believes AI will trigger could lead to a labor shortage.If AI increases economic productivity as he expects it to, "you're not going to need to have a two-earner income household," Bezos told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier."If you want to have it, it's fine. You'll have it. But if you don't want to have it, one of the people might drop out," he added.Bezos went on to say that increased productivity from AI could also mean people can make enough money to choose to work three days a week instead of the traditional five."Some people will also decide, you know what, I can support my family working three days a week. That's what productivity in the economy means," he said. More of Business Insider's coverage of how AI is changing work This option will, in turn, make it more challenging for companies to hire as more people choose not to work, Bezos said."It's going to actually be difficult to hire people because the productivity in the economy is going to make it so that if people don't want to work two jobs, they won't have to."Bezos, the world's third-richest person, is the latest billionaire AI-backer to espouse what he sees as a future in which the technology supercharges productivity and gives workers more control over their lives. Bezos joins Musk in touting an 'age of abundance' Elon Musk says AI will lead to an 'age of abundance' Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has long touted the potential for an AI-powered future in which people have more money and time and work less."I think by far the most likely outcome is an age of abundance where we don't have just universal basic income, we have universal high income," the Tesla and SpaceXAI CEO said at a meeting of tech leaders at the White House last week.As AI has risen in prominence in recent years, many have warned that the technology could lead to mass unemployment as white-collar jobs become more automated.So far, these warnings have not materialized, with the US unemployment rate rising slightly since 2022 but remaining relatively steady between 4.1% and 4.5% over the past two years.An analysis by Yale Budget Lab in June this year found that AI's impact on America's job market since it went mainstream in late 2022 has been modest. Rather than eliminating jobs, it has tended to change them, researchers found. Read next Will Martin is a senior business editor with 10 years of experience in various roles at Business Insider. He works with a team of reporters and editors to cover everything business, with a special focus on consulting, financial markets, and the aviation industry.Prior to working on the business news team, Will led Insider's sports coverage in the company's London bureau, publishing award-nominated work on alleged gang involvement in elite boxing, deeply-reported features on a civil war in Olympic sport modern pentathlon, and profiles of some of the biggest rising-stars in soccer.Before joining the sports team, Will spent a year as an associate editor on Insider's global news team. Before that, Will worked as a markets and economics reporter for Business Insider for more than three years.During his time with the news team, Will assigned and edited reporting and features on everything from the Boeing 737 Max crisis, to the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China, to global geopolitics, and even a Barack Obama-themed service station in Ireland.He also personally reported on allegations of illegal mass human organ harvesting in China.Prior to working for Insider, Will earned a BA in International Relations from the University of Exeter and an MA in Financial Journalism from City, University of London. Jeff Bezos AI Productivity More Unemployment