Jamie Dimon thinks your kids will work less and live longer.
The JPMorgan Chase CEO is predicting a future where the grind looks a lot more like a long weekend. In a recent interview with CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil, the banking titan predicted that AI will fundamentally rewrite the human schedule.
“I believe that 30 years from now… your kids are probably working three and a half days a week,” Dimon told CBS. He suggested that the massive productivity gains triggered by AI will eventually free up time for people to “hike more” and pursue hobbies that their current schedules don’t allow.
Dimon’s optimism extends far beyond the office. He believes AI will be the catalyst for a medical and safety revolution that could push human life expectancy into triple digits.
“They’ll probably live to 100, and a lot of the diseases that afflicted a lot of us, they won’t get,” Dimon said during the CBS interview. He specifically noted that “AI’s gonna cure cancers” and will lead to the development of better materials and safer transportation, claiming “it’ll stop a lot of car crashes.”
The ‘spilled milk’ problem
Despite the rosy long-term outlook, Dimon isn’t ignoring the immediate friction AI might cause in the labor market. He acknowledged that the transition could be painful if the technology moves faster than society can adapt.
“The risk is if it is too fast,” Dimon told CBS, noting that while AI will likely create more jobs than it destroys over time, the short-term displacement of workers is a real threat. To handle this, he is calling for a “public-private” partnership to retrain staff and move them into new sectors.
Regarding the inevitable disruption, Dimon noted that stakeholders must find solutions quickly because “to cry in spilled milk isn’t going to fix it.” He urged young people to prepare by focusing on “emotional intelligence,” “teamwork,” and “deep curiosity about the world.”
The ‘crush you’ office mandate
There is a striking contrast, however, between Dimon’s vision of a 3.5-day work week and his current stance on office attendance. While he sees a future with more leisure, his current policy at JPMorgan is strictly in-person, five days a week.
Dimon remains a fierce critic of remote work, arguing that it hurts the development of younger employees and weakens the company’s “apprenticeship system.” Dimon issued a blunt warning to leaders who prefer flexible, remote setups.
“You could build a company one way and I could build another company one way,” Dimon told CBS. “But I’ll tell you one thing: We would crush you.”
He described the bank as a “neural network” that requires face-to-face interaction to function at its peak. “JP[Morgan] is a neural network, and that neural network starts to break down a little bit when you can’t get a hold of people,” he added.