It’s Not Tomorrow But What Happens When Robots and Automation Replace the majority of people. Are Governments ready for what happens next?

For decades, the narrative about automation followed a predictable script, one I have used many times: machines would handle repetitive, low-skilled tasks, freeing humans to upskill and climb the economic ladder into more complex and creative work promising higher salaries.

Yet in 2025 and beyond, that ladder is disappearing rung by rung—not only at the bottom, but all the way to the top.

Ladder of Success in 2025

Today, factory workers compete with assembly-line robots, customer service agents with chatbots, and even artists with AI-generated images and music. These are not things that require much investment or planning - in most cases its "would you like the A.I chat bot switched on or not?". But the most sobering sign of the shift lies in high-prestige professions once thought untouchable. Surgeons now use robotic assistance for unprecedented precision in complex operations. The next frontier is obvious: AI systems already analysing medical images could soon command these surgical robots directly, bypassing the human entirely. If machines outperform the most educated among us, where does that leave the structure of capitalist society?

The Myth of Infinite Upskilling

Capitalism depends on a simple bargain: workers trade their labour for wages, which they then spend on goods and services, fuelling economic growth. The common reassurance has been that workers displaced by automation will “upskill,” transitioning to roles that machines cannot perform. But what if machines eventually can perform them?

Consider the trajectory:

• Manual labour was the first to be automated by machines and industrial robots. Example the car industry is full of robotics and automation, this required a lot of higher skilled people like engineers to program and run the systems, but this is gradually changing as software evolves and the systems require less and less technical knowledge.

• Cognitive tasks - data entry, accounting, logistics - are now performed by software and AI systems. Example “JPMorgan software does in seconds what took Lawyers 360,000 hours” the A.I. system named COiN has saved them millions of dollars. The COiN system enables JPMorgan to focus its workforce on higher value adding tasks. In early 2025 JPMorgan initiated a workforce realignment that included about 1,000 layoffs.

• Creative and strategic tasks - art, music, marketing campaigns, and even legal analysis—are increasingly within AI’s reach.

Upskilling ceases to work when no skill is beyond replacement. If every rung of the ladder is mechanised, the capitalist cycle where wages fund consumption—faces collapse.

The Imminent Shift: From Labour to Ownership

In a world where robots and automation do nearly all the work, two classes emerge more starkly than ever:

1. Those who own the machines and intellectual property (the capital holders a lot of whom are today’s million and billionaires).

2. Those who own nothing and produce nothing (the displaced majority “everybody else”).

Capitalism traditionally justified inequality because opportunity existed; anyone could, in theory, work harder or train longer to improve their station. But if no human labour is needed, that justification evaporates.

Possible Futures

1. Concentration of Wealth

A handful of corporations and individuals controlling the world’s AI and robotics infrastructure accrue nearly all wealth. Social unrest escalates as billions find themselves excluded from economic participation. Without intervention, inequality becomes unbridgeable.

2. Post-Labour Capitalism

Governments redistribute wealth generated by automated industries, providing a baseline income to everyone. This transforms the economy from a work-for-survival model to one where creativity, leisure, and community drive purpose. Capitalism as we know it gives way to a hybrid system - part market, part social welfare.

3. Techno-Feudalism

Instead of redistribution, we witness a digital aristocracy: corporations act as sovereign entities, renting access to services, information, and even basic sustenance. Society regresses into a form of high-tech serfdom, with humans dependent on corporate-controlled platforms for survival.

4. Human-AI Collaboration

A more optimistic vision suggests humans won’t be fully replaced but redefined. AI and robotics take on the burdensome aspects of work, enabling humans to focus on oversight, ethics, and meaning—though this future depends on careful design and equitable distribution of benefits.

The Question?

The march toward automation is unstoppable; the question isn’t if AI will perform surgeries without human hands, but when. As machines surpass human capability across the board, capitalism built on the premise of human labour as the foundation of value faces an existential crisis.

Do we cling to a system where wealth concentrates in the hands of those who own the machines? Or do we redefine value, decoupling human dignity from economic productivity? The answers will determine whether automation leads to unprecedented prosperity—or unprecedented unrest. One thing for sure the future will be different.