Work that's dictated by a fixed schedule, place and job description doesn't make sense anymore, says leadership expert Debbie Lovich. In light of the cultural shift towards remote work sparked by the pandemic, Lovich gives three essential tips to leaders so employees can keep their autonomy (while remaining productive), companies can let go of r...

"Will machines replace humans?" This question is on the mind of anyone with a job to lose. Daniel Susskind confronts this question and three misconceptions we have about our automated future, suggesting we ask something else: How will we distribute wealth in a world when there will be less -- or even no -- work?

TED Original Series dive deep into fascinating topics -- from the future of work and how to achieve a more secure financial future to the secrets of sleep and how your body really works. Here, the ten most-watched Originals episodes published in 2021.

We've all heard that robots are going to take our jobs -- but what can we do about it? Innovation expert David Lee says that we should start designing jobs that unlock our hidden talents and passions -- the things we spend our weekends doing -- to keep us relevant in the age of robotics. "Start asking people what problems they're inspired to sol...

Technologist Kai-Fu Lee describes the high-stakes battle between the West and China in artificial intelligence, and what it means for the future of work. (Audio only)

Satya Nadella is a modern renaissance man; he's a cricket enthusiast, poetry lover, oh, and the chairman and CEO of Microsoft with a nearly perfect approval rating on Glassdoor. Satya has led a transformation at Microsoft, up-ending the culture, and rethinking remote and hybrid work. In this episode, Adam talks to Satya about the future of work...

Here's a paradox you don't hear much about: despite a century of creating machines to do our work for us, the proportion of adults in the US with a job has consistently gone up for the past 125 years. Why hasn't human labor become redundant and our skills obsolete? In this talk about the future of work, economist David Autor addresses the questi...

With birth rates falling, the worldwide human population is getting older and smaller. According to traditional thinking, this spells a future of labor shortages, bankrupt social security systems and overall economic collapse. Before you panic about the end of life as we know it, political demographer Jennifer D. Sciubba has a thoughtful playboo...

In a constantly changing world, it's impossible for leaders to provide employees with the assurance they want, says Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud. Her solution: lead with humanity and flexibility. In conversation with veteran journalist Stephanie Mehta, Sud discusses her experience connecting remote employees worldwide, addressing burnout and adapting co...

The traditional approach to work needs a redesign, says economist Juliet Schor. She's leading four-day work week trials in countries like the US and Ireland, and the results so far have been overwhelmingly positive: from increased employer and customer satisfaction to revenue growth and lower turnover. Making the case for a four-day, 32-hour wor...

Tuesday, October 26, 2021 Adam Grant (AG): Hey WorkLifers, it’s Adam Grant, and this is Taken for Granted, my podcast with the TED Audio Collective. I’m an organizational psychologist, and this series is about rethinking assumptions we often take for granted about how we work, lead, and live. Today’s guest is Indra Nooyi, the longtime CEO and...

To lose our jobs to our future supreme AI overlords ... or to not? That's the question (and we have some surprising answers).

An intimate conversation with one of the most unique voices in music today. Amanda Palmer shows us how the future of creative work means asking for what you want. (Audio only)

The immense swell of a tsunami can grow up to 100 feet, hitting speeds over 500 mph -- a treacherous combination for anyone or anything in its path. Alex Gendler details the causes of these towering terrors and explains how scientists are seeking to reduce their destruction in the future. [Directed by Augenblick Studios, narrated by Michelle Sno...

John Maeda, former President of the Rhode Island School of Design, delivers a funny and charming talk that spans a lifetime of work in art, design and technology, concluding with a picture of creative leadership in the future. Watch for demos of Maeda's earliest work -- and even a computer made of people.

Physicist Steven Cowley is certain that nuclear fusion is the only truly sustainable solution to the fuel crisis. He explains why fusion will work -- and details the projects that he and many others have devoted their lives to, working against the clock to create a new source of energy.

TED Fellow Anab Jain imagines and builds future worlds we can experience in the present moment. By creating new ways of seeing, being and acting, she inspires and challenges us to look critically at the decisions and choices we make today.

Madison Mohns sheds light on the intersection of AI and the future of work.

How can we fit more people into cities without overcrowding? Kent Larson shows off folding cars, quick-change apartments and other innovations that could make the city of the future work a lot like a small village of the past.

Economists Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolffson see very different things when they look at the stagnation of the U.S. economy in recent years. It’s almost as if they’re looking at an optical illusion image – one seeing a candlestick while the other sees two faces just inches apart. In today’s talks, they both outlined their thoughts. Gordo...

Kickstarter cofounder Yancey Strickler unveils a radical new economic model that could transform how creative people build sustainable careers, amass collective wealth and escape the burnout of hustle culture. Hear his vision for how artists can pool resources, share profits and own their work in a new kind of economy, as he poses a tantalizing ...

In this performance, Sarah Jones brings you to the front row of a classroom in the future, as a teacher plugs in different personas from the year 2016 to show their varied perspectives on sex work. As she changes props, Jones embodies an elderly homemaker, a “sex work studies” major, an escort, a nun-turned-prostitute and a guy at a strip club f...

Short-sightedness may be the greatest threat to humanity, says conceptual artist Katie Paterson, whose work engages with deep time -- an idea that describes the history of the Earth over a time span of millions of years. In this lively talk, she takes us through her art -- a telephone line connected to a melting glacier, maps of dying stars – an...

We can see the power of distributed, crowd-sourced business models every day — witness Uber, Kickstarter, Airbnb. But veteran online activist Jeremy Heimans asks: When does that kind of "new power" start to work in politics? His surprising answer: Sooner than you think. It’s a bold argument about the future of politics and power; watch and see i...

Today's AI is trained on the work of artists and writers without attribution, its core values decided by a privileged few. What if the future of AI was more open and democratic? Researcher Percy Liang offers a vision of a transparent, participatory future for emerging technology, one that credits contributors and gives everyone a voice.

Science fiction visions of the future show us AI built to replicate our way of thinking -- but what if we modeled it instead on the other kinds of intelligence found in nature? Robotics engineer Radhika Nagpal studies the collective intelligence displayed by insects and fish schools, seeking to understand their rules of engagement. In a visionar...

When it comes to tackling the climate crisis, the majority of the workforce in Africa believes their role is in the labor-intensive, low-income work — not in the strategic, analytical or leadership-based spaces, says climate visionary and entrepreneur Joshua Amponsem. He advocates for a shift in climate funding that fosters local talent and lead...

More than half of the world's population already lives in cities, and another 2.5 billion people are projected to move to urban areas by 2050. The way we build new cities will be at the heart of so much that matters, from climate change to economic vitality to our very well-being and sense of connectedness. Peter Calthorpe is already at work pla...

The world is full of leadership programs, but the best way to learn how to lead might be right under your nose. In this clear, candid talk, Roselinde Torres describes 25 years observing truly great leaders at work, and shares the three simple but crucial questions would-be company chiefs need to ask to thrive in the future.

ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot capable of generating human-like text, seems to be everywhere. But how trustworthy are these tools — and what do they mean for the future of writing and work? Adam brings AI entrepreneur Allie Miller and innovation and entrepreneurship professor Ethan Mollick to discuss the capabilities of ChatGPT, de...