The term experience economy was coined by Harvard Journal back in 1998. It was indicating that people were spending on experiences rather than commodities. Today with the growing AI revolution, experience industry appears to be the only industry that will survive the AI moment of humanity. Events create experience. Hence, human quest for experience will continue in a post-labour economy. Experience economy sells us goods and services with an emphasis on the effect that they produce on us. It tells us there is more to life than just stuff. The advent of the internet has accelerated our quest for experience. Internet offers us free music, news, movies , art, education and more. With the coming of the smart phone experience economy is only growing at an exponential speed. We prefer experience over buying things and possessions. Thus, staging of experience that sells has become the in thing of event industry.
We can notice experience has been at the heart of entertainment provided by Walt Disney. Thus, selling an experience is indeed taking place in theatres, amusement parks, exotic tourist destinations, big luxurious hotels etc. We can see how big malls have embraced fun activities, live music, promotional events etc. Eateries are becoming sites of entertainment. Shops are providing shoppertainment. The atmospherics are constructed. The lights are designed. It is said that the lighting in a mall is designed to create sense of twilight so that the people are held captive without being concerned about the passage of time. The more a person is held hostage in the mall, it is more likely that he/ she will buy a product. Thus, selling is not merely an economic transaction. It is more an enjoyment and adventure of an experience. Experience economy requires mass customization and each individual becomes a guest who has to be hosted. Work space then becomes theatre. It is only then we can market experience as well as sell goods and services.
AI industry through data analytics will only enhance production of goods and services in accordance to the customized tastes each individual costumer. Even selling a car today is becoming selling an experience. With the self-driving cars, this selling of experience in a car will become vital to car business . We shall buy a car not just to travel from one point to another but because it will provide us an experience of a journey. A traveltainment is awaiting us in the days to come. Time being a primary currency of experience, experience economy will have to find multiple ways of engaging us . Thus, to sell wholesome experience, our physical experience will have to be fused with digital experience. AI that will take away our jobs cannot take away our experience. Experience will still be our quest and AI will enhance its satisfaction through a production of a state-of-art modes of experience.
Post-labour economy will run on wheels of experience economy. AI will mostly take away our repetitive tasks of humans. AI will create content that is required to produce an experience. This content would also be customized to each individual. Healthcare would also become an experience. AI doctors and nurses and other care givers will work to produce healthcare as a powerful experience. Religion will also have to catch up. Religion does provides us God experience. AI may assist us to produce the atmospherics that are needed to give us deep and profound religious experience. Indeed, the AI , especially the post- AGI economy will open to us new ways of being human-in-the-world. In such a world, God will be still relevant as quest for divine experience will still remain and human therefore, will still search God. Hence, aspects of culture, spirituality and community will still stay with us even as we march forward on the wings of AI
