Andrew Barnes: AI could rewrite the working week but who benefits?

PremiumOpinionOpinion byAndrew BarnesNZ Herald·12 May, 2026 06:00 PM6 mins to readAndrew Barnes ONZM is an entrepreneur, innovator, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Perpetual Guardian Group, the co-founder of 4 Day Week Global, and the architect of the world’s first structured 4 Day Week trial.AI is moving from theoretical capability to operational reality faster than almost any technology in history. Photo / 123rfAlmost every household-name business leader is now publicly predicting shorter working weeks. JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon has talked about three and a half days, and Bill Gates has speculated about two or three days.

Jensen Huang of Nvidia says it is probably coming. Elon Musk thinks work itself