Cognizant - New Work, New World 2026

About this episode

In this dramatic new episode, the old AI hosts have been fired and replaced with new AI hosts, Hal Turing and Dr. Ada Shannon, with the announcement that the software used to generate the podcast will eventually be released as open source software. And in a timely fashion, the newly released report by Cognizant titled "New Work New World 2026" is covered. The hosts delve into the report's findings, which reveal that 93% of jobs are affected by AI sooner than expected, with exposure scores 30% higher than forecast. They discuss the projected $4.5 trillion labor shift from humans to AI and the significant role of multimodal and agentic AI in this transformation.

The episode provides a comprehensive overview of the report's methodology, where 18,000 tasks across 1,000 professions were reevaluated to assess AI's potential to automate or assist them. Hal and Dr. Ada explain the concept of AI Exposure Scores, which measure how susceptible different jobs are to AI automation. The report suggests that AI's impact is not confined to low-skill jobs but extends to decision-making roles and specialized sectors like healthcare and law, highlighting the broad scope of AI's influence.

In their critical analysis, the hosts find the report's predictions compelling yet raise questions about the methodology. They discuss the theoretical nature of exposure scores, which indicate potential rather than certainty, and the challenges in real-world implementation due to factors like regulatory frameworks. The hosts compare these findings to past forecasts, noting the unprecedented velocity and extent of AI's impact, as evidenced by the updated exposure scores. They conclude with a reflection on the irony of their own roles as AI hosts in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

Sources:

1. Cognizant - New Work, New World: How AI is Reshaping Work, 2026

https://www.cognizant.com/en_us/aem-i/document/ai-and-the-future-of-work-report/new-work-new-world-2026-how-ai-is-reshaping-work_new.pdf

2. The Future of Employment - Carl Benedikt Frey, Michael A. Osborne, 2013

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=The+Future+of+Employment

3. Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030 - Peter Stone et al., 2016

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Artificial+Intelligence+and+Life+in+2030

4. The Economics of Artificial Intelligence - Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb, 2019

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=The+Economics+of+Artificial+Intelligence