Get Your Weekly Digest

Receive the best podcast summaries and insights delivered to your inbox every week.

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe anytime.

TED Talks Daily

Will AI make humans useless? | Akram Awad

with Akram Awad

Published November 26, 2025
View Show Notes

About This Episode

Host Elise Hu introduces AI futurist Akram Awad, who explores how artificial intelligence may not only displace jobs but also trigger a deeper crisis of identity and purpose. Awad argues that as AI automates more work, societies must decouple human worth from economic productivity and build new systems that value contribution, connection, and meaning. He proposes a framework of future human roles-guardians, adapters, and pioneers-and outlines changes needed in compensation, education, emotional infrastructure, and cultural norms to support purpose in the age of AI.

Topics Covered

Artificial intelligence Identity Workplace dynamics Personal Development Universal basic income Systems thinking Mental health Social bonding Existential risk

Disclaimer: We provide independent summaries of podcasts and are not affiliated with or endorsed in any way by any podcast or creator. All podcast names and content are the property of their respective owners. The views and opinions expressed within the podcasts belong solely to the original hosts and guests and do not reflect the views or positions of Summapod.

Quick Takeaways

  • Akram Awad argues that AI is creating not only a jobs crisis but also a looming crisis of purpose and identity, as many people's sense of worth is tied to their work.
  • He traces how industrialization shifted human identity from faith, family, and community to job titles and economic output, a model now being dismantled by AI.
  • Awad proposes a "Gap Circles" framework of future roles-guardians, adapters, and pioneers-defined by contribution, curiosity, and how people live and connect rather than by traditional employment.
  • He calls for new systems of compensation that guarantee basic dignity while rewarding meaningful social contributions and care work, not just paid labor.
  • Education, he says, must be rewired to emphasize character, emotional intelligence, ethics, resilience, and creativity so people can belong and find meaning beyond work.
  • Awad emphasizes the need for "emotional infrastructure" and community spaces to help people reconstruct identity as jobs and traditional roles disappear.
  • He suggests creating cities and communities that actively recognize and surface small acts of contribution as a new form of social status and belonging.
  • The talk challenges the assumption that productivity equals purpose and asks what humans will choose to become when they no longer need to work just to survive.
  • Awad concludes that the age of AI is as much a test of human imagination and values as it is a test of technology, urging a cultural reset away from output-based worth.

Podcast Notes

Show introduction and framing of the topic

Host introduces TED Talks Daily and the day's idea

Elise Hu sets expectation of daily new ideas to spark curiosity[2:57]
She introduces the scenario of AI outperforming humans at their own jobs[2:09]
• Listeners are asked to imagine waking up and finding that the job around which they built their life and identity can now be done better by AI
Introduction of speaker Akram Awad and his focus[3:10]
• Hu describes Akram Awad as an AI futurist
• She explains that he explores how AI displacing work can cause people to lose a sense of identity
• She notes that Akram argues we must create spaces and communities to help people rediscover who they really are

Opening thought experiment: Losing your job to AI

Imagining sudden obsolescence of one's job

Akram invites the audience to imagine discovering their job is no longer needed[3:28]
• He emphasizes this job is something you trained for, that made your parents proud, and made you feel useful
• The change is not due to personal failure but because an AI algorithm can now do the work better

Elena the medical doctor as a concrete example

Elena's traditional role as a physician[3:54]
• Elena is a medical doctor who for years was trusted with life-and-death decisions
AI capabilities in medicine impacting Elena[4:15]
• Akram notes that AI systems can now diagnose diseases, design treatments, and conduct consultations
• Elena's hospital is considering cutting the headcount of human physicians because of these AI capabilities
Elena's identity crisis in response to AI[4:15]
• She wonders what is left that only a human doctor can do if AI can take over most of medicine

From individual story to global pattern

Akram generalizes Elena's situation[4:24]
• He says millions of people around the world share similar experiences and concerns
• He stresses that this is not science fiction but an unfolding reality
Concern about a looming purpose crisis[4:34]
• Akram warns that beyond a jobs crisis, we may be heading toward a purpose crisis
Reframing AI as a potential beginning rather than an end[4:42]
• He asks whether we are looking at AI the wrong way
• He suggests AI may not be the end of purpose but the beginning of a new way to imagine it

Akram's background and the questions leaders are asking about AI

Work with country leaders on AI agendas

Scope of Akram's professional work[4:49]
• Akram says he works with country leaders around the world
• He helps shape national AI agendas, build digital economies, and design systems
Recurring questions he hears despite technical focus[5:02]
• He notes that no matter where he goes, and however technical the agenda, the same questions keep arising

First question: Practical survival in an AI-driven job market

Concerns about economic survival[5:13]
• Leaders and people ask: if AI takes over jobs, how will humans survive and pay their bills?
• Akram calls this the elephant in the room
Need to redesign economic systems[5:22]
• He says governments and economists must urgently redesign systems that sustain communities
• He clarifies that this fundamental economic question is not his main focus in this talk

Second, deeper question: Will AI make humans useless?

Existential fears about usefulness and identity[5:42]
• Akram quotes the question: Will AI make us useless?
• He frames related doubts: if we don't work, who are we? If we don't produce, do we still matter?

Historical shift: From faith and community to work as identity

Modern identity tied to work and job titles

Work as defining principle of modern life[5:57]
• For centuries, Akram says, we've tied our identity and worth to what we do
• He lists roles like farmers, factory workers, coders (referred to as "quarters" in the transcript), and consultants as identity labels
• Work and jobs became the reorganizing and defining principle of society in modern life

Pre-industrial sources of identity

Identity before the Industrial Revolution[6:03]
• Akram says that before industrialization, identity came from faith, family, and community
• He notes that work was a part of life but not its definition

Industrialization and the "industrialization" of identity

How industrialization changed identity[6:16]
• Akram states that with industrialization, we did not just industrialize production, we also industrialized identity
• The question "What do you do" became shorthand for "Who are you?"
AI is now dismantling the work-centered identity model[6:28]
• Akram says AI today is fully dismantling the model that equates identity with job

Scale of AI disruption and threat of an identity depression

Breadth of AI automation across sectors

AI automating diverse tasks[6:32]
• AI is automating tasks in manufacturing, logistics, design, customer services, and even creative work
• He notes AI can compose music, write code, illustrate books, and more

World Economic Forum prediction

AI versus human task share[6:56]
• Akram cites a World Economic Forum prediction that by 2025, AI will be doing more tasks than humans
• He adds that hundreds of millions of jobs are at risk

From jobs crisis to meaning crisis

Beyond employment to dignity and meaning[7:07]
• Akram insists the issue is not just about jobs, but about meaning and dignity
• He asks what happens when the main thing that once gave people value becomes obsolete
Risk of a Great Depression of identity[7:18]
• He warns that if we are not careful, we might be headed toward a Great Depression, not of income but of identity

The Gap Circles framework: Guardians, Adapters, and Pioneers

Introducing the framework

Purpose of the Gap Circles[7:30]
• Akram introduces a framework for human roles in the age of AI, which he calls the Gap Circles
• The three circles are guardians, adapters, and pioneers

Guardians: Survival-driven contributors

Definition and domains of guardians[7:38]
• Guardians are people driven by human survival
• They will work in areas like medicine, biology, pharmacology, and climate sciences
AI reshaping guardian roles[7:53]
• Akram emphasizes that even guardians' roles will be redefined and reshaped by AI
Elena's new role as an AI-era guardian[7:58]
• He reimagines Elena as a human validator in an AI-led immunology lab
• The lead scientist in this lab is an AI trained on global biomedical data
• Elena uses her medical knowledge to ensure AI outputs are ethically sound and human-relevant

Pioneers: Curiosity-driven explorers

Definition and orientation of pioneers[8:20]
• Pioneers are driven by curiosity rather than survival
• Akram clarifies that survival and curiosity do not always go hand in hand
• He lists physicists, scientists, explorers, astronauts, and philosophers as examples of pioneers
Example of a displaced logistics manager becoming a pioneer[8:36]
• A logistics manager whose job has been fully replaced by AI might rediscover an old passion for astronomy and planetary systems
• He uses AI-powered upskilling tools to become a "cosmic systems architect"
• Akram jokes that "cosmic systems architect" is a mouthful for a job title
• This former logistics manager collaborates with an AI trained on decades of astrophysics data
• Together they simulate the cosmos and explore what lies in the universe beyond current understanding
• Akram adds that maybe, one day, they might discover aliens

Adapters: The largest, overlooked circle focused on how they live

Definition and metrics of adapters[9:14]
• Adapters form the largest and most overlooked group between guardians and pioneers
• They will not be measured by output or titles but by how they live, connect, and create meaning
Graphic designer example transitioning into an adapter role[9:32]
• Akram describes a graphic designer rethinking her place as AI automates most of her work
• She pivots to community-based creativity, running community art workshops
• She also takes care of her father
• She hosts a podcast on emotional intelligence
• Although she is not traditionally employed, Akram says she deeply contributes to her community

Are Gap Circles a new class system?

Anticipating concerns about hierarchy[9:45]
• Akram acknowledges that some might think his framework sounds like a new class system
• He says that in some ways it is, but it will not be based on wealth or status in the traditional sense
Legacy as future currency of aspiration[10:20]
• He suggests that guardians and pioneers might be future elites not because of what they own but because of what they contribute
• In this vision, legacy rather than money becomes the currency of aspiration

Fluidity between roles and changing value of work

Movement across circles over a lifetime[10:23]
• Akram says the circles are likely to be fluid
• A guardian today might become an adapter in the future, and an adapter might push themselves to become a pioneer
Shrinking scope but expanding meaning of roles[10:36]
• As AI reshapes work, Akram expects these roles may shrink in scope but expand in meaning or value
Adapters seeking recognition over wealth[10:47]
• He argues adapters will not be passive
• They will seek recognition rather than wealth accumulation
• In a world driven less by money and more by contribution, recognition becomes the new status symbol

Policy and societal shifts needed for the AI age

Rethinking how we compensate contribution

Decoupling security from traditional work[11:07]
• Akram says we need to rethink how we compensate contribution as AI reduces the need for traditional work
• He calls for designing new systems that provide value and security beyond paychecks
• He argues everyone should have guaranteed access to a minimum level of resources that allow them to live with dignity
Rewarding time spent on meaningful contributions[11:33]
• Beyond a dignified foundation, additional earnings should depend on how people spend their time
• He gives examples like caring for an aging parent or planting a public garden as small but meaningful acts of contribution
• He includes the connections people nurture and the new meaning they add in their communities as contributions that could be valued

Rewiring education for character and belonging

Expanding the goals of education[11:59]
• Akram calls for rewiring education not only for skills but also for character
• He lists emotional intelligence, ethics, resilience, and creativity as key educational focuses
• He argues that education must prepare people not only to earn but also to belong

Investing in emotional infrastructure

Need for spaces that support identity transitions[12:14]
• Akram says we must invest in our emotional infrastructure
• He notes that as jobs disappear, so will identities tied to those jobs
• We need spaces and communities that can help people rediscover who they really are

Creating ecosystems to test new models of contribution and belonging

Pilot cities and communities[12:27]
• Akram calls for ecosystems that allow us to test these ideas today
• He imagines cities and campuses where we can pilot new ways of contribution, recognition, and belonging
A daily feed of contributions instead of financial metrics[12:34]
• He asks the audience to imagine waking up to a daily feed not filled with stock prices but with small contributions around them
• Examples include who helped a child learn to read, who composed new music that lifted spirits, and who mentored someone in line
• He even includes "who gave an inspiring TikTok today" as a recognized act of contribution
• He says these small acts together become the heartbeat of society

Rethinking the economic loop and core assumptions about work and purpose

Current societal loop based on work and taxation

Description of the established loop[13:08]
• Akram says communities have been built on a simple loop: people work, earn, accumulate, and spend
• Governments tax that labor to fund public life

Breakdown of the loop in a post-work world

Consequences of disappearing traditional work[13:19]
• In a world where traditional work disappears, Akram says this loop breaks
• He argues that assumptions like "productivity means purpose" and "income means contribution" must be revisited and reimagined

The real question: What do we choose to become?

Shifting from fear of uselessness to proactive choice[13:34]
• Akram reframes the future question from "Will AI make us useless?" to "What do we choose to become when we no longer have to work just to survive?"

Closing vision: Meaningful moments, cultural reset, and human essence in the age of AI

Reflecting on personally meaningful moments

Prompt to recall meaningful life experiences[13:51]
• Akram acknowledges the future he described may sound abstract
• He asks each person to think of the most meaningful and special moments in their life, whether alone or with loved ones
Contrasting desks with connection, creativity, and compassion[14:04]
• He asks whether these meaningful moments happened at a desk
• He suggests they were more likely moments of connection, creativity, and compassion
• He states that this kind of life is the future we can and should build

Cultural reset: Decentering work from identity

Need for intentional change, not accidental outcomes[14:17]
• Akram warns that such a future won't happen by accident
• He says it will require policies, but even more, a cultural reset
Changing how we teach worth and identity[14:27]
• He insists we must stop teaching people that their worth will only be measured by their output
• We should start educating people for a world where work is no longer the center of identity

AI age as a test of imagination and values

Beyond technology to imagination[14:35]
• Akram says the age of AI is not just about testing technology but about testing our imagination
Call to imagine better and reclaim human essence[14:47]
• He urges people to imagine better and to see this moment not as an ending but as an invitation
• The invitation is to rediscover purpose, redefine value, and reclaim the essence of what it means to be human in the age of AI
• Akram ends by thanking the audience

Outro: Context about the talk and production credits

Information about the event and curation

Location and date of the talk[15:15]
• The host states that this was Akram Awad speaking at TED at BCG in Dubai in 2025
Reference to TED's curation guidelines[15:10]
• Listeners are told that if they are curious about TED's curation, they can find out more at TED.com/curationguidelines

Production credits for TED Talks Daily episode

Fact-checking and production team[15:18]
• The talk is noted as having been fact-checked by the TED research team
• The episode was produced and edited by Martha Estefanos, Oliver Freedman, Brian Greene, Lucy Little, and Tansika Sangmarnivong
Mixing and additional support[15:31]
• The episode was mixed by Christopher "Fazy" Bogan
• Additional support came from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo
Host sign-off[15:31]
• Elise Hu says she will be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for listeners' feeds

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Tying your identity and self-worth solely to your job or productivity is fragile in a world where AI can rapidly automate many forms of work; cultivating sources of meaning beyond employment makes you more resilient to systemic change.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What parts of my identity today are most dependent on my job title or economic output?
  • • How would I describe who I am to someone if I could not mention my work at all?
  • • What is one concrete activity or relationship outside of work that I can intentionally invest in this month to diversify my sense of meaning?
2

In an AI-driven economy, contribution can take many forms beyond paid labor-caregiving, community building, mentoring, and creative expression all create real value and can become new bases for recognition and status.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which unpaid contributions I already make (like caring, mentoring, organizing) would I recognize as valuable if I saw them through this lens?
  • • How might I redesign my week so that at least some of my time is devoted to visible, meaningful contribution in my community?
  • • What is one small, specific act of contribution I can commit to doing regularly that would improve someone else's life?
3

Preparing for the future of work requires developing emotional intelligence, resilience, ethics, and creativity as much as technical skills, so that you can adapt your role and still belong even as specific jobs change or disappear.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which non-technical capabilities (like emotional intelligence or resilience) do I currently rely on most, and which are underdeveloped?
  • • How could strengthening one of these capacities over the next year make me more adaptable if my current role were automated?
  • • What deliberate practice or learning habit can I start this week to grow a character trait I'll need in a rapidly changing world?
4

As AI takes over more tasks needed for survival, the key strategic question becomes what you choose to do with the freed-up time-intentionally directing it toward curiosity, exploration, and connection can turn disruption into an opportunity for a richer life.

Reflection Questions:

  • • If my basic financial needs were covered and my current job vanished, how would I ideally want to spend my days?
  • • In what ways am I currently using my free time that don't align with the kind of person I want to become?
  • • What is one curiosity, passion, or community role I can start exploring in a small way now, before external changes force me to?
5

Societal systems and cultural narratives can lag behind technological reality, so it is important to consciously question inherited assumptions such as "income equals contribution" and to imagine alternative models that better reflect human values.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which assumptions about success and contribution did I inherit from my family or culture that I have never really questioned?
  • • How might my decisions about career, money, and status change if I prioritized legacy and impact over accumulation?
  • • What is one outdated belief about work or worth that I'm willing to challenge and experiment with in my own life over the next year?

Episode Summary - Notes by Charlie

Will AI make humans useless? | Akram Awad
0:00 0:00