Zoom CEO Eric Yuan: AI will bring three- or four-day workweeks

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan's prediction that AI will usher in three- or four-day workweeks echoes a broader debate among executives about automation's effect on work. Yuan, in a 2025 interview with The New York Times, tied shorter schedules to AI's ability to take over tasks, while conceding that some roles—such as entry-level engineers—could be automated. He framed the change as another adjustment comparable to the industrial revolution and the birth of the internet, arguing that new opportunities, like managing digital agents, will emerge.

The article also cites U.S. performance coaching company Exos, where a one-day-shorter schedule cut employee burnout in half and raised productivity by 24%, suggesting such experiments can benefit both workers and business. Yet the path forward hinges on whether the jobs created by AI—managing code and digital agents, for instance—will offset the roles eliminated, and on how quickly companies adopt these technologies. For workers and employers alike, the test is likely to be whether shorter weeks arrive as a broad upgrade or only for those whose positions survive the transition.