Artificial Intelligence and the Future

Why 150 years of new technology says AI won’t leave us with nothing to do

Will AI take all the jobs?

No. History says new tools CHANGE our work. They don’t end it. Over the last 150 years, America got new machines again and again. Each time, people worried. Each time, we ended up with more jobs, higher pay and/or more time off.

I used a typewriter in grade school. Then I used a word processor. I carried around a floppy drive to make sure I had my work with me.

Now, I use Google Drive and have all the latest updates of my work. Crazy efficient.

So, did I take this newfound time and sit on the porch rocking in a chair? No…well, maybe a little. 😀

Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, because according to Mark Twain, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”

How much did Americans work 150 years ago?

In 1870, the average American worker put in about 3,096 hours a year. That’s about 62 hours a week. Most people worked 6 days a week. They got about 4 days off all year, counting holidays.

About half of all workers were on farms. The work was hard, hot and long. One bad storm could wipe out a whole year.

Today, the average American works about 1,799 hours a year. That’s roughly 40% less time on the job. And by 2000, the typical worker had about 20 days off a year instead of 4.

What happened each time a big new tool showed up?

Every new tool made each hour of work worth more. Here’s how it played out.

Electricity (1880s). Lights meant work didn’t stop at sundown. Factories got motors. Whole new jobs showed up, like electricians and power plant workers.

The assembly line (1913). Henry Ford’s line built cars much faster. Cars got cheaper. Millions of people bought them. That created jobs in gas stations, road building, repair shops and motels.

The tractor (1920s). One farmer could now do the work of many. Farm jobs shrank from about half of all workers to under 2%. Those people didn’t sit at home. They moved to factories, offices, stores and hospitals.

The computer (1950s–1980s). Typing pools and filing rooms shrank. But we got programmers, IT workers and help desks.

The internet and smartphone (1990s–2000s). Some stores closed. But we got web designers, app builders and online shops of every kind.

Where did all the new jobs come from?

Here’s the number that surprised me most. Economists at MIT studied every job title in America from 1940 to 2018. They found that about 60% of the jobs people held in 2018 didn’t exist in 1940!!!

Read that again. More than half of today’s jobs weren’t on the list 80 years ago.

New tools don’t just replace work. They create work nobody could picture before. In 1940, nobody had heard of a software engineer or a social media manager.

So is AI different this time?

Maybe. Maybe not.

AI is a strong tool. It can write, sort and answer questions. It can do some really cool stuff. Some jobs will change. Some will go away. Look at how you shop today vs. 20 years ago. Do you have an Amazon Prime account? Even look how you are reading this. Even 30 years ago, this would have been a letter. On paper. In the mail. 

Change isn’t always easy for everyone. The same MIT study found that since 1980, machines have wiped out more jobs than in the 40 years before. Some workers had to retrain. Some had a hard few years. The country came out ahead, but not every person did at the same pace.

But here’s the pattern. For 150 years, every big new tool made us more productive. We used part of that to work fewer hours. We used the rest to do new kinds of work. That pattern hasn’t broken yet.

The bottom line

In 1870, people worked 62 hours a week and got 4 days off a year. Today, we work far less, earn far more and do jobs our great-grandparents couldn’t imagine.

AI will change how we work. History says it won’t end the need for work. It’ll likely give us new jobs and, just maybe, a little more time to fish.

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Jeremy Finger, Founder

Jeremy grew up in Nichols, South Carolina, where fishing with his dad sparked a lifelong interest in how money shapes our lives. Since becoming a financial advisor in 1996, he’s helped people navigate life’s biggest moments—and today, with Riverbend, he offers a calm, personal approach that helps clients focus on what matters.

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