Automation that could eliminate countless jobs may be the next big political challenge in the U.S., and politicians are already starting to discuss how to deal with a potentially inevitable unemployment surge driven by robots and artificial intelligence.
If automation and A.I. really could wipe out almost half of jobs in the U.S., the government is still unprepared for it. Recent A.I. products like ChatGPT could herald a future where even white-collar workers are pushed aside by artificial intelligence. And a 2020 study found that adding a single robot to expedite manufacturing jobs destroyed 3.3 jobs nationwide.
How automation and technology will affect labor markets is top of mind for politicians like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who released a new book Tuesday, It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.
In it, Sanders argues that current tax paradigms are not equipped to handle disruptive technologies like automation and A.I., and higher taxes targeted at companies that choose to use robots instead of humans could soften the blow, an argument that billionaire and tech philanthropist Bill Gates has been making for years.
“If workers are going to be replaced by robots, as will be the case in many industries, we’re going to need to adapt tax and regulatory policies to assure that the change does not simply become an excuse for race-to-the-bottom profiteering by multinational corporations,” Sanders writes in his book, according to an excerpt reported by Insider.
Gates notably called for a robot tax during a 2017 interview with Quartz, in which he said companies taxed for using robotics could still come out ahead, given how much money and time automation could save businesses in the long run. Like Sanders, Gates said governments and companies need to start having these conversations now, before the pace of technological advancement threatens to overtake both.
Government and business tackling technology’s impact on jobs
It isn’t the first time Sanders has tried to address how automation and A.I. could affect the labor market, and likely won’t be the last. The two-time presidential candidate frequently discussed how automation could only make rich people richer most recently during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
“[I] will tell corporate America that artificial intelligence and robotics are not going to be used just to throw workers out on the street,” his campaign told Vox in 2019 when asked how Sanders would deal with automation as president. Sanders’ campaign added that he would cut tax breaks for companies that replaced employees with robots and mandate that large companies let more human workers sit on boards and weigh in on automation decisions.
Automation’s threat to jobs was a frequent talking point during the Democratic primaries ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with entrepreneur Andrew Yang notably proposing a universal basic income to shield American workers from the disruptive effects of automation. Sanders disagreed with Yang at the time, saying people still “want to work” despite the difficulties posed by new technologies.
The issue has taken on even greater prominence since the pandemic, when the use of robotics in manufacturing and the service sector skyrocketed as companies worked around stay-at-home orders and a tight labor market, and are unlikely to go back to humans. Company orders for robots broke records both in 2021 and 2022, with robotics industry experts predicting continued growth especially among car companies looking to pivot to electric vehicles.
President Joe Biden’s 2021 executive order, which promises to invest $300 billion in new technologies and create 5 million new manufacturing jobs, doesn’t close the door to automation, arguing that it will create more jobs in the long term. The Biden administration has said that projected growth in more technical technology jobs, which is the fastest-growing job sector in the U.S., will offset the loss of factory jobs.
Biden has presented his plan as a revolutionary moment for the U.S. economy as it keeps pace with new technologies, and while Sanders is on board with the economy’s massive changes, he has continued to sound the alarm bell that large numbers of American workers risk being left behind.
Sanders called advances in automation and artificial intelligence a “transformational moment” for the U.S. in an interview with CBS aired Sunday, but added that he wants “working people to be involved” in the new economy. Sanders said that while he is not “anti-technology,” he wants to see policy enshrined that ensures workers are set to benefit from technological leaps including automation and A.I.
“I don’t want to see the people on top simply be the only beneficiaries of this revolution in technology,” he said. “There is a revolution taking place now with artificial intelligence and robotics. Okay? Millions of workers are going to lose their jobs.”
During his interview, Sanders said Gates’ proposal of a robot tax idea was “one way to do it” when it comes to mitigating technology’s negative impact on jobs, but reiterated that the scope of policy responses should go beyond stopgap solutions and put the well-being of workers front and center.
“It’s not just taxing the robots. It’s this whole question of an economic transformation. Are working-class people going to benefit from that or just the billionaire class?” he said.
