The Future of Work 2026: Calgary editorial series, brought to you by Bow Valley College, is an in-depth collection of interviews and stories that aims to assist Global News viewers and QR Calgary listeners as they navigate new opportunities within the ever-evolving job market.
I searched for this series hoping for some thoughtful discussion of the fact that the labor economy is already obsolete, and how our society will address that. The real future of work is that humans won’t be doing most of it – even ‘human touch’ design jobs. By conservative estimate, AI is already capable of replacing 50% of our workforce. Only the slow speed of deployment is preventing that from happening today, but it *is* happening and we should be preparing for it now. The ‘new jobs’ that AI creates are temporary, and only a tiny slice of GDP at best. They certainly won’t prevent our economy from crashing when the number of worker/consumers is permanently slashed in every other sector. Let’s talk about that, instead of this fluffy fantasy about training for a future that isn’t coming.