What Would Worker-Centered AI Development Look Like?
If AI agent investment followed worker desires rather than capability frontiers, where would the money flow?
The WORKBank data reveals a mismatch: 41% of current AI startup activity targets tasks where workers either don’t want automation or current capabilities are low. Meanwhile, tasks like scheduling appointments, maintaining records, and running reports, where workers strongly want help, remain underserved.
What would change if we asked “where do workers want relief?” before “what can we build?”
Related: 07-atom—worker-ai-usage-mismatch, 07-molecule—desire-capability-landscape, 07-molecule—automation-desire-pattern