Google DeepMind’s October 29, 2026 essay presented survey research on how adults value work and perceive the risk of AI replacing their jobs. Julian Jacobs’s paper reports responses from 8,234 working-age adults in four countries. Its AI measure captures what workers expect over the next decade, not observed job losses. (Google DeepMind Institute; the survey paper)
Who took part, and what did the study examine?
More in Common fielded the survey in June and July 2026, using national quota sampling that included age, gender, education, and region. The respondents came from Denmark (2,032), India (2,072), the United Kingdom (2,052), and the United States (2,078).
The respondents were working-age adults, so the findings describe adults’ views of work, not children’s career plans. The Google DeepMind essay also summarizes a review of more than 100 studies about work and wellbeing, including research on unemployment, retirement, lottery winners, and financially dependent spouses.
The paper flags a limitation in its India sample: it was online-only and disproportionately urban, educated, and white-collar. Seventy-seven percent of respondents in that sample had a bachelor’s degree or higher, and 84% worked in white-collar occupations.
What workers said they value in a job
The paper assigned 6,224 respondents to four work-value profiles. The other 2,010 respondents were classified as “Other” and excluded from this profile analysis. The percentages below apply to the 6,224 classified respondents, not the full survey sample.
| Work-value profile | Share of classified respondents | What the profile values |
| Intrinsic | 33.21% | The work itself |
| Transactional | 26.29% | Financial benefits |
| Community-oriented | 23.12% | Social and community aspects of work |
| Status-driven | 17.38% | Social status |
The paper also reports that 81% of respondents were satisfied with their jobs. In a separate hypothetical question, about 20% of 7,106 active workers said they would not leave their jobs even if offered guaranteed income equal to 120% of their current salary. The scenario preserved healthcare, pension, and paid leave. That answer reflects a choice in a survey scenario, rather than a real-world job decision.
What the AI job-threat figure measures
Among active workers, 37.2% said AI or automation was certain, very likely, or somewhat likely to replace their job within ten years. The share was 40.4% among white-collar workers and 28.8% among manual and service workers. These figures measure perceived risk, not the proportion of jobs already lost or a causal effect of AI on employment.
That is a different question from how AI agents might affect firms through coordination, which a separate NeoTeo explainer examines.
