Will the future of work for Gen Z include space? Tech leaders predict space work and travel could be just a decade away | Fortune

"A Stanford University study released last year found AI is having a "significant and disproportionate impact" on entry-level workers in the U.S., raising fresh concerns about how the next generation will find its footing in the labor market. But for those worried about what the future of work will look like, young professionals may need to look bigger-and even toward the sky. That's because the same technology that may be disrupting traditional jobs could accelerate entirely new industries from space tourism to planet colonization."

"Sam Altman is known for being CEO of OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT), but he's also joining the growing list of billionaires who are bullish about life in space. In fact, he said he believes young people a decade from now may be leaving behind career prospects on Earth in favor of the broader solar system. "In 2035, that graduating college student, if they still go to college at all, could very well be leaving on a mission to explore the solar system on a spaceship in some completely new, exciting, super well-paid, super interesting job," Altman told video journalist Cleo Abram in 2025."

"These jobs will not only enable Gen Alpha graduates to reel in sky-high salaries, but they'll also be "feeling so bad for you and I that we had to do this really boring, old work and everything is just better." And while his predictions are bold, AI's rapid development is increasing the speed of innovation and will help solve some of society's biggest problems, including, he implies, how to sustai"

AI is having a significant and disproportionate impact on entry-level workers in the U.S., raising concerns about how young people will enter the labor market. At the same time, AI-driven innovation is accelerating the creation of entirely new industries, including space tourism and planet colonization. Some prominent billionaires are enabling these developments and envision careers for the next generation that are not limited to Earth. Sam Altman predicts that by 2035, graduating college students may leave for missions exploring the solar system in well-paid, exciting jobs. He frames these future roles as a replacement for older, less interesting work, while AI’s rapid progress also supports solving major societal problems.

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