Yesterday, the White House released 3 separate Executive Orders and an AI Action Plan. We will be taking a deeper dive into these in the next few articles, but today I’m going to focus in on one part of the Action Plan: “Empower American Workers in the Age of AI.” Here are the associated policy recommendations:
Led by the Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of Education (ED), NSF, and DOC, prioritize AI skill development as a core objective of relevant education and workforce funding streams…
Led by the Department of the Treasury, issue guidance clarifying that many AI literacy and AI skill development programs may qualify as eligible educational assistance under Section 132 of the Internal Revenue Code, given AI’s widespread impact reshaping the tasks and skills required across industries and occupations…
Led by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and DOC through the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), study AI’s impact on the labor market by using data they already collect on these topics, such as the firm-level AI adoption trends the Census Bureau tracks in its Business Trends and Outlook Survey. These agencies could then provide analysis of AI adoption, job creation, displacement, and wage effects.
Establish the AI Workforce Research Hub under DOL to lead a sustained Federal effort to evaluate the impact of AI on the labor market and the experience of the American 7 Executive Order 14277 of April 23, 2025: “Advancing Artificial Intelligence Education for American Youth,” Federal Register 90 (80) 17519, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-04-28/pdf/2025-07368.pdf. 8 Executive Order 14278 of April 23, 2025: “Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future,” Federal Register 90 (80) 17525, www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-04-28/pdf/2025-07369.pdf. 9 Revenue Act of 1978, 26 U.S.C. § 132. 6 AMERICA’S AI ACTION PLAN worker, in collaboration with BLS and DOC through the Census Bureau and BEA…
Led by DOL, leverage available discretionary funding, where appropriate, to fund rapid retraining for individuals impacted by AI-related job displacement…
At DOL and DOC, rapidly pilot new approaches to workforce challenges created by AI, which may include areas such as rapid retraining needs driven by worker displacement and shifting skill requirements for entry-level roles…
Basically then - “Workforce Empowerment” in this plan consists of; a) retraining in AI, b) studying the impacts of AI on the workforce and maybe recommending to do something about it and c) probably engaging in AI retraining when it’s determined that AI is taking all of the White Collar jobs. On the other had, if we were to view the top tech CEOs of AI-related companies as the workforce, the rest of the plan seems geared towards ensuring that one or more them becomes the world’s first trillionaire (we’ll talk about that more in the follow-up article).
What’s wrong with this view of Empowerment?
Isn’t this the way we’ve always viewed new technology trends? Yes, it is. Unfortunately, Artificial Intelligence is unlike all of those previous trends for one simple reason - there’s no new skills required as a result of it. If anything, AI adoption represents the biggest ‘deskilling’ in the history of labor as more and more supposedly human activities are made redundant and costly artifacts of the distant past. In effect, there is nothing in this Action Plan that empowers workers because there is nothing that they can be taught to do that they don’t already know.
What about AI Engineering & other new jobs?
Well, aren’t there going to be a slew of new AI-related technology jobs like AI / Model Engineers given the enormous investments being made? Well, no - there won’t be. Why? Because, a) the industry is consolidating among an ever-shrinking cadre of mega-companies that will likely control 90% of the funding and most outcomes associated with AI and b) AI tools will be used more frequently to design AI until the point where human engineers become redundant - this is going to happen much faster than most realize. There have been some associated AI jobs related to the training process for models where folks help to ‘fine-tune’ results - but those which have been largely outsourced anyway, will also become unnecessary sometime soon. Are there any other new job roles being created? Nope. I’ve seen articles where folks have tried to make them up - this process usually involves adding the letters “AI” before a dozen or more existing job titles. Again, the process will be working in reverse with titles disappearing rather than being added.
Is this Empowerment in a personal sense?
Well, yes - many of us will be able to do more work than before and also get involved with more types of work that we’ve never done before. The question will be whether anyone wishes to pay us for that work. This new economy might necessarily become informal and more focused on personal businesses with fewer and fewer employees required in medium to large-sized companies. And importantly, in the Government’s AI Action Plan, there is no mention of this, nor any attempt to help out (other than perhaps in conducting a handful of studies that will likely be ignored by this administration). There is zero funding dedicated to compensating for AI-related job losses or paying for the non-existent AI skills training.
So, what are AI Skills anyway?
Anyone who has used ChatGPT, Copilot or any of the similar tools now available already knows the answer to this question: an AI skill is simply the ability to provide input to one of these tools and ask it to perform the skill on your behalf. So, if you can communicate in any way (through writing or speech), you’ve already got the skills necessary to use most of these tools. More specific AI tools, such as those used to auto-generate code, require some understanding of the coding process - but not much and these of course are existing skills, not new ones. Yet, despite the obvious fact that there are no AI Skills to be taught, both industry and government leaders continue to insist (quite counter-intuitively) that there are such skills. And these skills are not only referenced (yet never specified) again and again, they’re held up as the only answer to the wave of AI-induced job losses. Not good.
We’re stuck in a “Don’t Look Up” doom loop of ignoring the impending Great Replacement while being told that if we only learn to tilt our heads in the other direction we’ll be saved. What would Workforce Empowerment in the Age of AI actually look like? That’s a tough question - but it’s one that our leaders are skillfully ignoring in a race to adopt AI with zero restrictions and forethought.
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