Machines could take 50% of our jobs in the next 30 years. The Doen Foundation, a Dutch charity supporting cultural and social innovation, asked us to look at what this could mean for a future workforce. And so idea of The Last Job On Earth was born. The film imagines what life in a fully automated world might be like, with the aim of connecting viewers to the issue emotionally. It was then surrounded by a series of factual articles that explored many of the issues in more detail. Including a launch article by Paul Mason, Guardian columnist and economics editor at Channel 4 news.
In all, the film generated over 800k views across the Guardian and social platforms, with over 20k shares on the Guardian alone. It also received a huge amount of coverage online, including everything from a Staff Pick on Vimeo, to a very detailed thread on reddit. The Vitra Design Museum in Germany is now screening the film as part of its touring exhibition on robots.