The job market has slowed, especially for recent college graduates and entry-level workers, and while people have suspicions about why, no one really knows if it鈥檚 because of AI.
For Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, that鈥檚 a problem.
Warner, who has a positive view of the technology, also acknowledged that many Americans don鈥檛 feel the same way, in large part because of what AI leaders keep saying about how this tech is going to impact jobs.
鈥淲e can see all these positives coming with things like increased medical advances, actually making folks more productive,鈥� Warner said. 鈥淏ut I’m also terrified over at least the short term, say the next five years, about the job dislocation. And that means not only job elimination, but it means a lot of firms not hiring folks.鈥�
He said it鈥檚 time for the federal government, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics in particular, to begin tracking the real impact AI is having right now, since no one really knows what the reality is.
鈥淲e don’t really know much of anything. That’s the problem,鈥� Warner said. 鈥淚t’s almost all anecdotal.鈥�
Warner cited that showed roughly 9% of recent college graduates are unemployed right now. He worries the number could jump much higher, and what the economic impact could be if it does.
鈥淭here are people that hired too much post-pandemic and now are bringing things back down,鈥� he said.
He also pointed to industries like software and human resources, and the impact AI programs appear to be having on them already.
Past statements from Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, which makes the Claude chatbot, have suggested half of all jobs could be taken over by AI.
鈥淗e stopped saying that,鈥� Warner noted. 鈥淏ut on the other hand, we’ve seen his product, Claude, come out and completely disrupt the software industry and the HR industry. 鈥� I’ve had other CEOs who privately said they’re not giving the same dire predictions because they’re afraid of blowback in terms of job elimination.”
Warner said people aren’t investing in or creating AI chatbots without thinking about the bigger picture and the greater efficiencies.
鈥淲e’ve seen a dramatic hit on these two specific industries, software and HR. I think we’ll see more,” he said.
Warner also said if guardrails aren鈥檛 established to protect Americans, the negative impacts could end up being even worse than the failure to rein in social media with kids was.
鈥淚 think this is existential,鈥� Warner said. 鈥淚 think this is the biggest priority that we’re missing real time. I wish I was more optimistic that we could get ahead of this.鈥�
But getting ahead of things involves having the right information, and right now, that doesn鈥檛 exist. Sometimes, a company blames AI for their own business mistakes; while other companies announcing layoffs are specifically saying AI is not responsible.
鈥淲e just don鈥檛 have good data,鈥� Warner said. 鈥淚’ve talked to more experts than I care to think about and they’re all over the lot. But I actually think 鈥� CEOs are underestimating (AI’s impact), because what they tell me privately is very different than what they say publicly.鈥�
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