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🌊 What Happens When "Nobody Has a Job"
The Biden and Trump Administrations have taken two contrasting approaches to AI. Did either address the main problem?
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By Max Frost
The warnings about AI-induced job displacement are frightening. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei predicts 10-20% unemployment within five years; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said “many jobs will soon vanish”; and Elon Musk said last year, “Probably none of us will have a job." As yesterday’s story documented, there is reason to believe this shift is already underway.
But what are governments doing about it?
In today’s deep-dive, we look at what policies the Biden Administration enacted, what the Trump Administration is doing now, and how that compares to other countries.
The federal government's formal engagement with AI policy began in February 2019, nearly four years before ChatGPT's launch, when President Trump signed an executive order on "Maintaining American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence."
The order reflected an acceleration-focused philosophy. It called for increased R&D investment, opening government data for AI development, and training workers for AI jobs. Notably absent were protections for workers who might be displaced by the technology.
In his final months, Trump signed three additional AI-focused actions, directing the federal government to use AI ethically while eliminating barriers to its development. The message was clear: American AI development should proceed as rapidly as possible.
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Editor’s Note
Will AI eliminate or create more jobs? What does a best-case scenario look like in 5 or 10 years? What about a worst-case? Let us know by replying to this email.
Lots of replies to yesterday’s article on how AI is impacting the job market. Check them out here:
Jonathan wrote:
Just a personal observation of the current job market for gen z: I recently graduated from University in Canada, our whole lives we were told to get a good education to get a job to own a home, but after graduating I would say the vast majority of people from my graduating class cannot find a job in their field, whether it be the arts, buisness or biochemistry which is the case for me. Most of my friends have moved back in with their parents and are working minimum wage for now. The worst part is that they're also losing hope, its not just a bad time, its going to get worse, is what I hear a lot. Now with the rise of AI this seems even more true, and while it may help buisnesses small and large, not everyone can be a buisness owner.
Margie wrote:
Your sentence "what is the government doing about it" is exactly what's wrong with society. The government is not your daddy, it should do what it's supposed to - and let capitalism work in the workplace.
And Seth from Nashville, TN wrote:
So I work at one of the big three record companies in data operations. We are heavily implementing AI into everything. It's not a magical fix all thing. But if you use it like a tool, like a massive compile machine, then it's pretty handy. It's not going to replace half the jobs out there. BUT, it does make researching things much faster. I'm one of the few people on my team embracing it. I think that's the other big thing. A lot of workers just aren't exploring it. I think it's great and I'm here for our new robot overlords :) But seriously, I think it will help a lot of people stream line and remove a lot of the dull, repetitive work.
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Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.
—Max and Max