/blæŋk ˈkɒl.ə/noun
The successor to the white collar. The worker of the AI era.
The evolution of the white-collar worker. A human whose role is no longer to execute work but to direct it — running businesses, shipping outcomes, and making decisions while machines handle the routine.
Example“Blue collars built it. White collars managed it. Blank collars orchestrate it.”
The default class of work in the AI era. Defined not by industry, desk, or uniform — but by leverage. What one human can ship with the help of machines.
Example“The blank collar economy doesn’t ask where you work — only what you ship.”
Coined in 2016 by Kristian Kabashi. From blank (“undefined, open, unwritten”) + collar, after blue-collar (1924) and white-collar (1910). Earlier terms classified a kind of work; blank collar classifies a kind of worker — one defined by leverage rather than uniform, and built for the age of AI.