Most of us would love a break from the 9-to-5 grind, evidenced by the recent hype over the four-day workweek. But a new startup from the UK promises to help you toil even less than that — while remaining just as productive.  

The company is called Tomoro and it’s on a mission to cut the working week to just three days within the next five years. It aims to achieve this using AI “agents” — essentially, large language models (LLMs) which can freely make decisions within defined guardrails, as opposed to rule-based machines. These agents will act like robotic personal assistants.

“We’re not talking about simple automation or the removal of repetitive tasks,” explained founder Ed Broussard. “Tomoro will be integrating synthetic employees into businesses alongside real people that have the ability to reason, grow, increase their knowledge, adapt their tone and problem solve. This is a huge departure from what’s currently on the market.”

Originally from Scotland, Broussard is best known as the founder of data and AI consultancy Mudano, which was acquired by Accenture in 2020 for an undisclosed sum. The entrepreneur’s latest venture, Tomoro, is working “in alliance” with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT (which just sacked its CEO Sam Altman in one of tech’s biggest upsets this year). 

Headquartered in London, Tomoro claims it has no intention to replace people’s jobs but only to enhance their productivity. “We need to stop thinking about AI as a like for like job replacement — its value extends far beyond that,” he said. Tomoro aims to accelerate workplace efficiency at large corporations by up to eight times the current rate.

To execute its ambitious plan, Tomoro says it will recruit a “world class” R&D team, leaders in behavioural science, and AI experts. Having launched just this week, the company has already secured its first client, British insurance firm PremFina.

“AI is as big a societal shift as the invention of farming,” added Broussard. “Imagine telling a hunter-gatherer that in the future there would be an abundance of food, and it would take no effort to eat. That’s what AI will do for productivity in the workplace.” 

The launch of Tomoro comes just weeks after Elon Musk said that he believed AI would replace all jobs in the future and we would all live on a universal income (doing god knows what with all that free time). 

For Broussard, however, the future of the workplace is AI working in tandem with its human overlords.

Published November 21, 2023 - 9:00 am UTC

Back to top