Daniel Susskind: AI, Work and the Future of Economic Value

Artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work, but what does that mean for businesses, workers and policymakers? These were some of the key questions explored by economist and author Daniel Susskind, keynote speaker at Exponential Day 2026, Catalonia's flagship innovation event.

Susskind is one of the world's leading voices on the impact of AI and technology on work and society. He is the Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College, a Digital Fellow at Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and a researcher at the University of Oxford and King's College London. He also serves on the UK Government's Expert Panel on AI and the Future of Work. His latest book, Growth: A Reckoning, was selected by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of 2024. His next book, What Should My Children Do? How to Flourish in the Age of AI, will be published in September 2026.

“This is a time for real imagination, creativity and lots of experimentation in thinking about how we use AI technologies”

Daniel Susskind, writer and researcher at King's College London

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Preparing people and businesses for the AI economy

In this exclusive interview with Catalonia Trade & Investment, Susskind explains why, despite growing concerns around generative AI, he does not believe the future will be defined by a lack of work. Instead, the real challenge will be ensuring people have the skills needed to thrive in an economy where AI increasingly performs tasks once thought to require uniquely human capabilities, including creativity, judgment and empathy.

Rather than trying to predict which jobs will emerge, Susskind argues that education and lifelong learning should focus on helping people use AI effectively and critically across every profession. Preparing the next generation for a workplace filled with increasingly capable technologies, he says, is one of the defining challenges of our time.

For business leaders, his message is equally pragmatic: embrace experimentation. With no established playbook for AI adoption, organizations should test, pilot and learn what works while remaining open to entirely new ways of solving problems. In his view, the greatest limitation is no longer the technology itself, but our imagination in applying it.

Susskind encourages Catalan companies to approach AI with a "blank sheet of paper" mindset: instead of using AI simply to improve existing processes, businesses should rethink how they solve problems from first principles and explore fundamentally new ways of creating value.

Watch the full interview to hear Daniel Susskind's insights on how businesses, workers and policymakers can prepare for the AI economy.