Centering Workers in AI Policy

With the end of the 2024 election cycle this month, the United States is preparing for a new administration and a change in congressional power. At the Center for Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work, we’re thinking about what implications incoming leaders’ policy agendas may have for the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) over the next four years and, as always, how it affects workers and learners.??

The first Trump administration made strides in AI policy development with the launch of the American AI Initiative in 2019. While training the AI workforce was a clear priority in the executive order that led the initiative, much of the emphasis in Trump’s AI policy focused on investing in AI research and removing barriers to innovation.?

Many things have changed since 2020, making it difficult to fully anticipate what a second Trump administration and shifts in Congress will bring for AI. Generative AI has proliferated, putting new technological developments in the hands of hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses. It is far easier now for the average American to imagine how this technology could change or disrupt their jobs or those of their family, friends, and local community, creating a new sense of urgency.??

New voices and decision makers are also in the mix. This includes Vice President-elect JD Vance, a former venture capitalist who has publicly advocated for open-source AI, lighter regulation, and prioritizing the preservation of domestic jobs and industries. Another recent influence is Elon Musk, the founder of AI developer xAI, who was recently named to co-lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.” Recent reporting suggests President-elect Trump is considering naming a White House “AI czar.” ?

What we do know is that Trump was elected by millions of people who feel the economy was not working for them, and AI has the potential to both accelerate—and hinder—people’s ability to obtain quality jobs and livelihoods. And while much of the national policy discourse on AI has centered—rightly—on national workforce competitiveness and security infrastructure, now is the time to make sure workers aren’t left behind.?

As Jobs for the Future (JFF) wrote in a set of education and workforce policy recommendations for the incoming Trump administration, we need to modernize transition assistance for workers affected by economic change, such as AI, while also exploring the technology’s innovative potential for education and workforce development. We also need to focus on ensuring all workers are prepared for new economic opportunities through training in AI competencies and durable skills, and for jobs that are more likely to be augmented and elevated by AI. It’s also never been more important to redesign our education and workforce systems to help people of all ages pursue a wide range of paths to livelihoods—including better jobs, wealth-building, and economic opportunity.?

While there is more work to do, we’re grateful for the many researchers, civil society organizations, technology developers, funders, and others who are shaping policy that supports the ethical development and use of AI to power economic advancement and livelihoods.??

We’d love to hear from you—what policies need to be in place to ensure AI advances, not delays, economic advancement for all? ?

In the Headlines: AI & the Future of Work and Learning?

• Late last month, Chipotle, in collaboration with Paradox, introduced an AI hiring system, called Ava Cado, that’s meant to reduce prospective employees’ time to hire by assisting with tasks such as answering candidate questions, scheduling interviews, and extending job offers.?

• To coincide with their launch last week, TechTonic Justice, released a report, Inescapable AI, that details how AI use has disproportionately disadvantaged people from low-income backgrounds in every social system.?

• The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a framework with recommendations for the public sector, AI developers, and other stakeholders on the safe development and use of AI in critical infrastructure.?

• In a small study, ChatGPT outperformed doctors in making diagnoses from medical case histories, even when doctors used ChatGPT to help make their assessments. Doctors using ChatGPT only did slightly better (76%) than doctors not using ChatGPT (74%), while ChatGPT alone scored 90%.??

• Researchers from the Yale School of Medicine found that readers could only distinguish between human-written and AI-generated essays 50% of the time, raising implications for the use of AI in higher education.?

• The 10th annual Educator Confidence Report from HMH, an adaptive learning company, suggests that most K-12 teachers who use generative AI find it valuable in their work and plan to increase their use of it. Educators who were surveyed also expressed a need for more professional development on AI so that they can use it more confidently and safely.?

New AI to Know?

• At the end of last month, Anthropic announced a new model, Claude 3.5 Haiku, and an upgraded version of Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which features a new capability called computer use that allows the tool to interact with the user’s computer the way the user would. This ability, currently still in public beta, offers potential for automating routine tasks, such as research or data entry.?

• Google Maps added AI features to its app, including its chatbot, Gemini, enabling users to get more tailored responses when searching for things to do in an area or looking for a parking place, for example.?

• LinkedIn launched its first AI agent, called Hiring Assistant, which helps recruiters craft job descriptions and source candidates for roles.?

• Mistral, an AI startup, launched an Application Programming Interface (API) for content moderation, which aims to help users detect discriminatory language and sensitive information in text provided to AI tools.?

• OpenAI added a search engine to ChatGPT, joining Perplexity in the AI-powered search engines competing with Google. While Perplexity recently started incorporating ads onto its platform, OpenAI’s search feature is still ad-free, but currently only available to users with paid accounts.?

• OpenAI is also in talks with semiconductor manufacturing companies Broadcom and TSMC to build its own chip to power its AI models.?

The Latest From JFF and the Center for Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work?

The Center for Artificial Intelligence & the Future of Work’s Alex Swartsel moderated a panel, Collaborative Futures: Leveraging AI for Social Impact in Public and Nonprofit Spheres, at DC Startup & Tech Week, on October 25, facilitating a conversation with impact strategists on how the public sector can maximize the benefits of AI for social good. Among the takeaways:??

• AI provides a unique opportunity for the social sector to scale impact.?

• Use cases of AI for social impact range from content generation to analysis to customer service to predictive capabilities to translating complex ideas—exploration and proofs of concept are essential first steps.?

• Pain points in early adoption include lack of resources, skilled talent, and—unsurprisingly—pure organizational capacity to integrate new technology and adapt to change; panelists stressed the importance of asking non-technical questions!?

• Training is key to growing the social sector workforce’s AI readiness and, as one panelist said, engaging employees as "fellow researchers" in generating ideas for use cases and testing the technology, especially to probe for bias or disparate outcomes.??

• Earlier this month, on November 4, Swartsel also participated in a panel at Salesforce’s inaugural AI Equality Summit, which brought together leaders across industries to explore the role of AI in enhancing inclusion and how to make the technology more accessible for all. Read her reflections here.?

Eugene So, managing director of Lifelong Learning, an incubated practice in JFFLabs, attended the 2024 Association of Public & Land-grant Universities (APLU) annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, November 10-12. At the conference, university leaders discussed objectives and approaches to integrating and implementing AI tools and services on campuses. A few key takeaways included:??

• Examine policy, but don’t let policy lead: Remind faculty and staff that good policy exists on campuses and that these should be referred to when considering implementing AI strategies, but these shouldn’t be the only factor to consider during decision-making processes.??

• Be more than faculty-inclusive—let faculty drive: Incorporate a task force and a peer-leaning network of faculty champions that work toward inclusive engagement across campus.??

• Collaborate: Offices of student affairs, academic affairs, and other departments would benefit from strategies around shared incentives that mitigate risk and provide overarching benefits if AI-enabled services focused on collaborative activities.???

• Measure for impact: Create the appropriate measurement and evaluation frameworks to assess the success, efficacy, and impact of implementing technology solutions such as AI on campuses.?

On November 14, Swartsel also participated in a panel, AI for Good, at The AI Imperative, an inaugural summit hosted by Purdue University and Google that brought together “industry, government and education leaders to discuss how AI will impact how we learn, work and lead.” Swartsel joined Teresa Lubbers from the Sagamore Institute, Mona Sturgis from Google Cloud, and Kim Gregorie from Guild to discuss how AI can drive equitable economic advancement for all.?

Last week, on November 20, Kristina Francis, executive director of JFFLabs, moderated a virtual debate, Preparing for Tomorrow’s Workforce: Universal Basic Income or Employment?, on LinkedIn Live, where experts discussed the strategies governments and industries can implement to support workers displaced by automation.?

2025 Horizons Summit: Dare To Be Brave?

June 10-11 | New Orleans?

Join us at JFF’s annual summit when we return to New Orleans on June 10-11, 2025, to ignite change and take bold steps toward creating a future that works for everyone. Horizons is a unique space where top leaders, investors, educators, policymakers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, philanthropists, and corporations converge. It’s designed for professionals at all levels—from entry-level to C-Suite executives—interested in driving meaningful change in education and workforce systems. #JFFHorizons?

Early bird registration opens December 2 and lasts through February 5. This will be our lowest available rate, so register early!?

Your Voice?

We want to craft this newsletter with our community to create a dialogue around leveraging AI to drive equitable economic advancement. We would love to know what you're working on related to the questions we raise and what ideas you have for what this newsletter could include to best support your work. Please send us your thoughts. We look forward to hearing from you!?

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