Most tech revolutions made work worse for employees. AI could be the exception: this+that

I'm Matt Wood, and this is For Your Information. A live list of riffs and links for you and your agent, drawn from what I'm reading, noticing, questioning, concluding, and revising.

An analysis of how previous technology revolutions (PCs, the internet, smartphones) typically increased workloads and benefited companies more than employees, and why AI may be different by actually performing work rather than just accelerating it. The piece argues that while AI is currently causing workplace disruption, it has the potential to free up time for creative thinking and collaboration rather than simply raising productivity expectations.

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Connections

Related to

Economic Paradoxes of AI - Ronnie Chatterji (OpenAI Chief Economist) OpenAI's Chief Economist analyzing economic paradoxes of AI addresses the same core tension the new item raises: whether AI's economic benefits will accrue to workers or companies, and why this time might differ

Supports

How One Tech Company Created 13 New Types of Jobs Because of A.I. A tech company creating 13 new job types because of AI directly instantiates the new item's argument that AI could differ from previous tech revolutions by benefiting workers rather than just companies
Does AI eliminate jobs? Economists find heavy adopters hire more. Economists finding heavy AI adopters hire more rather than cut jobs is empirical evidence supporting the new item's thesis that AI may be an exception to the pattern of tech harming employees
The Dynamo and the Computer: An Historical Perspective on the Modern Productivity Paradox The Dynamo and Computer piece on the historical productivity paradox directly parallels the new item's analysis of how previous tech revolutions (PCs, internet) failed to deliver expected worker benefits, providing historical grounding for the claim

Challenges

The most interesting thing in tech: If you are going to give a commencement address in the next couple of weeks, do not mention AI or you might get loud boos. It happened in Florida last week; and it… | Nicholas Thompson | 70 comments The commencement address booing of AI mentions signals widespread worker anxiety about AI, directly challenging the new item's optimistic framing that AI could be the exception that benefits employees

Supported by

Ordinary Abundance Ordinary Abundance's historical lens on past tech revolutions (electricity, photography) provides direct evidence for evaluating claims about whether AI will follow the same pattern of disruption and normalization that previous transformative technologies did.
How Organizations Use ChatGPT The broad cross-seniority and cross-function adoption pattern provides evidence for the argument that AI may be different from prior tech revolutions in how it distributes benefit across worker levels

How This Was Made Both examine the organizational and workforce dynamics of AI adoption, with the new item specifically diagnosing why broad adoption stalls and the existing item discussing whether AI adoption benefits employees — complementary perspectives on the same diffusion challenge

Type:	link
First published:	Tuesday, 4 August 2026 at 23:00 UTC
Location:	https://www.thisandthat.chat/blog/most-tech-revolutions-made-work-worse-for-employees/
URL:	https://mattwood.fyi/i/39ec3a60