Fearing Mass Job Loss, Working-Class US Voters Believe Government Must Act to Prevent Economic Disaster

A poll commissioned by Working Families Power reveals deep anxiety among US workers about the impacts of artificial intelligence, as well as support for the government intervening to prevent potential mass unemployment.The survey of just over 2,500 working-class American voters, conducted by Justice Research Group, finds that 73 said they were worried that AI would lead to job losses in the US, while 62 said they were concerned that AI would personally affect them or people close to them.Workers expect that AI will negatively impact a broad number of industries, with majorities saying it will hurt truckers and delivery drivers; retail and service workers; writers, designers, and other creative workers; and office and administrative workers, according to the poll. Pluralities, meanwhile, expect AI to hurt teachers, education workers, and healthcare support workers.With so many workers fearing massive jobs losses due to AI, they also support major government interventions to alleviate the harms caused by the technology.Overall, 84 of those surveyed support free training or education for all workers displaced by AI, while 79 support rules to force companies to share AI productivity gains with their workers in the former of higher pay, stronger benefits, and shorter hours.Even the least popular policy idea presented in the poll—taxing large companies that replace workers with AI and using the money to create a worker unemployment fund—received 69 support among US workers.The poll's findings could bolster the case made by many progressive politicians about the need to vigorously regulate the AI industry to prevent it from hurting working-class Americans.Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) earlier this year introduced a bill that would impose a nationwide moratorium on AI data center construction “until strong national safeguards are in place to protect workers, consumers, and communities, defend privacy and civil rights, and ensure these technologies do not harm our environment.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) last month proposed a tax on the use of AI to pay for jobs programs for affected workers.