Research briefForthcoming
The Transition Gap
The period between technological disruption and institutional adaptation.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
The Human Foundation | Research
The Human Future Deserves Serious Study
Artificial intelligence is advancing from a specialized technology into a general capability capable of affecting work, education, creativity, institutions, relationships, and everyday human decision-making.
The central question is no longer simply what artificial intelligence will be able to do. The deeper question is what happens to human beings, human institutions, and human society as increasingly capable intelligence becomes widely available.
The Human Foundation exists to help investigate that question.
We examine emerging evidence about artificial intelligence, employment, human capability, education, economic participation, social connection, governance, and human flourishing—and ask what societies should begin building now to preserve human agency, dignity, purpose, and participation through the transition ahead.
We are neither anti-technology nor committed to predictions of technological catastrophe. Artificial intelligence may produce extraordinary benefits.
Our concern is that technological progress should be accompanied by equally serious thought about human progress.
Explore the Evidence ↓Current signals
The transition is no longer theoretical.
The future remains uncertain. But leading international institutions are already documenting substantial changes in work, skills, productivity, public attitudes, and human interaction.
1 in 4
Workers globally hold occupations with some degree of generative AI exposure
The International Labour Organization concluded in 2025 that transformation of jobs is currently more likely than wholesale replacement. Exposure, however, varies substantially across occupations and economies.
22%
Of today's jobs could experience structural disruption by 2030
The World Economic Forum estimates that major technological and economic forces could create approximately 170 million jobs while displacing approximately 92 million existing roles.
~40%
Of the skills required in today's jobs are expected to change by 2030
Technological literacy will matter, but research continues to identify creative thinking, resilience, adaptability, leadership, collaboration, and problem-solving as increasingly important human capabilities.
World Economic Forum · 2025
<1%
Of workers may require advanced AI-development skills
For most people, the challenge will not be becoming AI engineers. It will be learning how to live and work effectively in societies increasingly shaped by intelligent systems.
The story is not simply automation. It is transition.
Beyond technology
Technology can tell us what becomes possible. It cannot tell us what society should become.
Research into artificial intelligence increasingly raises questions that extend far beyond productivity.
What happens to human expertise when expertise becomes inexpensive?
What happens to education when information and sophisticated analysis are instantly available?
What happens to work when portions of cognitive labor can be automated?
What becomes a source of dignity and status when economic productivity requires fewer human beings?
How do we preserve independent thinking when intelligent systems can increasingly think alongside us?
How should the benefits of extraordinary technological productivity be distributed?
Which decisions should remain meaningfully human even when automated alternatives exist?
These are not merely technological questions. They are human questions.
What we study
The Human Foundation Research Agenda
Our work is organized around a set of long-term questions concerning the relationship between technological capability and human flourishing.
01
Human worth
Human Worth
How can societies maintain a clear distinction between economic usefulness and human value?
Human worth cannot fluctuate with technological capability.
As machines become increasingly capable, institutions may need stronger cultural, economic, and civic principles affirming that a person's dignity does not depend upon outperforming a machine.
02
Work & participation
Work, Participation & the Human Economy
What new forms of economically and socially valuable human participation could emerge as automation expands?
We are particularly interested in fields built around care, development, mentorship, stewardship, community, relationship, human advocacy, experience, and other forms of value that should not be measured solely through machine-comparative productivity.
03
The transition gap
The Transition Gap
What happens during the period between rapid technological disruption and the creation of institutions capable of responding to it?
The greatest instability may arise neither from today's economy nor from a distant automated future, but during the years between them—when occupations, expectations, governments, and institutions are changing at different speeds.
Understanding this period is a major Human Foundation research priority.
04
Human capability
Human Capability
Which human capabilities should society intentionally strengthen as machine intelligence expands?
An age of abundant intelligence may require greater emphasis on wisdom, judgment, creativity, character, emotional maturity, collaboration, discernment, responsibility, and meaningful human relationship.
05
Education
Education After Intelligence Scarcity
What is education for when access to sophisticated knowledge and analysis becomes nearly universal?
Educational institutions may increasingly need to move beyond transferring information toward intentionally developing human beings.
06
Governance
AI Governance & Human Agency
Which decisions should remain meaningfully human?
Efficiency alone cannot determine the answer.
Societies will need frameworks for determining where human accountability, consent, judgment, and participation should remain essential even when automated alternatives are available.
07
Human flourishing
Human Flourishing
Ultimately, technological success should be measured against human outcomes.
Are people healthier? Are families stronger? Are communities more connected? Do individuals possess meaningful agency? Can people participate in society? Do they experience purpose, dignity, belonging, and hope?
A civilization can become more technologically capable without necessarily becoming more humanly successful.
Proposed research initiative
Toward a Human Transition Observatory
Measuring what happens to humanity as intelligence changes civilization.
The Human Foundation believes society will eventually need better ways to measure the human consequences of the intelligence transition.
Traditional economic indicators tell us whether economies are growing. AI capability benchmarks tell us whether machines are becoming more capable.
We will also need indicators that tell us whether human beings are doing well inside the civilization those technologies are creating.
Proposed measurement domains
01Economic Participation
02Human Agency
03Education & Capability
04Social Connection
05Distribution of Technological Benefits
06Institutional Preparedness
07Purpose, Dignity & Flourishing
Others are measuring what AI is becoming.
The Human Foundation intends to help measure what is happening to humanity alongside it.
Our standard
Evidence before certainty. Inquiry before ideology.
- 01
Distinguish evidence from prediction.
- 02
Distinguish occupational exposure from actual job displacement.
- 03
Distinguish technological capability from real-world adoption.
- 04
Acknowledge uncertainty when uncertainty exists.
- 05
Examine evidence that challenges our assumptions as seriously as evidence that supports them.
- 06
Prioritize original research and primary sources over sensational interpretations.
Our objective is not to prove that the future will unfold exactly as we expect.
Our objective is to help ensure that humanity begins asking the necessary questions before the answers are determined for us.
Human Foundation research
Research Library
Research briefs, frameworks, essays, and evidence reviews examining humanity's transition into an age of increasingly capable intelligence.
FrameworkForthcoming
The Human Economy
Human participation and economic value in an age of abundant intelligence.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
EssayForthcoming
Beyond Employment
Human worth in the age of artificial intelligence.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
Research briefForthcoming
Education After Intelligence Scarcity
Rethinking human development when answers become abundant.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
FrameworkForthcoming
The Human Capability Framework
The capacities that may matter most as machine capabilities increase.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
FrameworkForthcoming
The Human Governance Standard
Where meaningful human agency should remain essential.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
Evidence reviewForthcoming
Measuring the Human Future
Toward a Human Transition Index and Observatory.
- Author
- The Human Foundation
- Publication
- Date to be announced
- Format
- PDF · Citations
Research Sources We Follow
Human Foundation analysis draws upon emerging evidence from leading research institutions, universities, international organizations, governments, and peer-reviewed scholarship.
- International Labour Organization
- OECD
- World Economic Forum
- Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence
- Pew Research Center
- MIT
- National Bureau of Economic Research
- International Monetary Fund
- World Bank
- Academic and peer-reviewed research
Reference to an institution or study does not imply endorsement of the Human Foundation or its conclusions. Sources are cited for research and analysis purposes.
A continuing inquiry
The intelligence revolution is still beginning.
Many of its consequences cannot yet be known.
That is precisely why research matters now.
The Human Foundation will continue examining emerging evidence, publishing research briefs, developing frameworks, and bringing together ideas from technology, economics, psychology, education, public policy, philosophy, and human development.
The most consequential question of the artificial-intelligence age may ultimately be larger than:
What can machines become?
It may be:
What do we want human civilization to become alongside them?
Join the conversation
The future of humanity should not be decided only by the people building the machines.
Join readers, leaders, educators, technologists, thinkers, workers, parents, and citizens exploring how humanity can flourish in an age of extraordinary machine intelligence.