EMBARGOED UNTIL 4:30 PM ET, DECEMBER 20, 2016
the social safety net, including exploring strengthening critical supports such as unemployment
insurance, Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and putting in place new programs such as wage
insurance and emergency aid for families in crisis. Worker empowerment also includes
bolstering critical safeguards for workers and families in need, building a 21st century retirement
system, and expanding healthcare access. Increasing wages, competition, and worker bargaining
power, as well as modernizing tax policy and pursuing strategies to address differential
geographic impact, will be important aspects of supporting workers and addressing concerns
related to displacement amid shifts in the labor market.
Finally, if a significant proportion of Americans are affected in the short- and medium-term by
AI-driven job displacements, policymakers will need to consider more robust interventions, such
as further strengthening the unemployment insurance system and countervailing job creation
strategies, to smooth the transition.
Conclusion
Responding to the economic effects of AI-driven automation will be a significant policy
challenge for the next Administration and its successors. AI has already begun to transform the
American workplace, change the types of jobs available, and reshape the skills that workers need
in order to thrive. All Americans should have the opportunity to participate in addressing these
challenges, whether as students, workers, managers, technical leaders, or simply as citizens with
a voice in the policy debate.
AI raises many new policy questions, which should be continued topics for discussion and
consideration by future Administrations, Congress, the private sector, academia, and the public.
Continued engagement among government, industry, technical and policy experts, and the public
should play an important role in moving the Nation toward policies that create broadly shared
prosperity, unlock the creative potential of American companies and workers, and ensure
America’s continued leadership in the creation and use of AI.