What if we reinvented our social model?

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Why I wrote this article?

“In the Age of Artificial Intelligence: What if we reinvented our social model?” This document is a bit long (about 18 pages) but I wanted to go beyond a simple observation and propose avenues for reflection on the subject.

This morning, listening to yet another discussion about pension reform, 64 years, 66 years, 67 years… and in Denmark, 70 years planned by 2040, I realized that we continue to constantly adjust the old formulas, without ever changing the calculation model. Yet, a real tsunami is approaching.

Rarely, if ever, do I hear serious political or media reflection on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on our current economic and social model. We keep our old reference points, even though they are about to be overturned. This asymmetry between the speed of technological transformation and our collective capacity to anticipate it pushed me to share this reflection.

Because if we do nothing now, will it be possible to act later, once we’re backed against the wall?

Artificial intelligence is profoundly transforming our way of working and producing. Yet, our social systems, pensions, unemployment insurance, health remain entirely financed by human work. This gap poses a fundamental question that should concern us right now: what will happen when AI massively replaces human employment?

Numbers that make you dizzy

The numbers are striking. Goldman Sachs estimates that 300 million jobs could be affected by generative AI. The IMF predicts an impact on 40% of global jobs. McKinsey announces that 60% of professions could be automated in the near future.

We are talking here about a transformation that evolves in months, even weeks, while our governments think in years and our legislation in decades. This temporal asymmetry reveals the urgency to act.

The widening fiscal and social void

Today, a company that massively automates its production via AI agents reduces its human costs but does not compensate for this decrease with an equivalent contribution to solidarity systems. This fiscal and social void threatens the very balance of our social protection models.

How do we finance our pensions, our health system, our unemployment insurance, if the base of social contributions gradually erodes? How do we maintain social cohesion if AI productivity gains only benefit those who own the technology?

AI as a lever for progress

But rather than submitting to this transformation, couldn’t we make it a lever for progress? Shouldn’t we create an “AI social contribution” where companies that automate contribute proportionally to the gains obtained? These new resources would allow us to lighten the burden on human employment and rethink our success indicators beyond simple GDP.

Towards a society liberated by AI

Imagine a world where AI becomes a “time liberator” rather than a source of anxiety. More time to train, engage civically, create, care for others and the planet. Instead of constantly pushing back the retirement age, we could advance it. Instead of intensifying work, we could collectively reduce our working time through an equitable redistribution of productivity gains.

Act now or suffer tomorrow

This vision assumes that we act now, before AI transforms society alone, without framework, without collective consciousness. We must stop constantly adjusting the old formulas and change the calculation model. The debate must involve businesses, citizens and politicians to build this new social pact.

Because if we make the right choices, AI can become a powerful lever to build a more balanced, freer and more caring society.

The question is no longer whether this transformation will happen, but how we will guide it so that it serves human fulfillment rather than its enslavement.

I invite you to read my complete article on the subject where I develop these ideas and propose concrete avenues. I would be really happy to exchange, to have your opinion, your ideas and to take this reflection to a higher level.

Good reading and thank you in advance for your feedback!

Because it is together that we must rethink our models for a responsible and profoundly human AI.

Contents concerning the document: