In a post on X, he said that if both Gates and Murthy work out a compromise, people will be working for five days a week.
“Bill Gates says a three-day work-week ought to be possible. In other words, if Mr Gates and Mr Narayana Murthy sit down together and work out a compromise, we will end up exactly where we are, with a five-day work week!” he said in a post on X.
What Bill Gates said
In a podcast with comedian Trevor Noah, Gates said that if AI is used judiciously, it could provide people working 5-plus days a week some more leisure time. He said that with AI, there could one day be a time when humans “don’t have to work so hard.”
“If you eventually get a society where you only have to work three days a week, that’s probably OK,” Gates said, adding that there could be a world where “machines can make all the food and the stuff,” and people don’t have to work a five day-plus work week to earn a living wage.
Days before Gates’ comments, there was an uproar over Murthy’s 70 hours of work a week comment. The Infosys co-founder said that Indian youngsters “need to work for at least 70 hours a week” to boost productivity and “compete with the fastest-growing countries like China and Japan”.