CEOs of some of the biggest companies in the US have been outspoken of late about the ways they believe AI will disrupt workforces.
“AI is going to change literally every job,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said last month.
Ford CEO Jim Farley echoed those remarks at an event in Detroit this week.
“The efficiency and automation always rips through our economy. And it will take jobs away from all sectors of the economy,” he said, speaking at a summit Ford hosted called Accelerate the Essential Economy. “Listen to what the CEO of Walmart said this week.”
US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, speaking at the same event, offered a more optimistic view on how the technology stands to affect US workers.
“I don’t think it’s a hollowing out of anything. I really think it’s just a shift change, no different than the industrial age, no different than the technology age,” she said. “We will adapt.”
US workers must not only adapt, but lead the way on AI adoption, Chavez-DeRemer argued: “Because if America doesn’t do it, another country will. And that’s what the president wants, is to be dominant in AI.”
The essentials: Chavez-DeRemer was one of dozens of government and business leaders on hand on Tuesday to talk about the “essential economy,” made up of roles like construction workers, electricians, and plumbers. In a blog post, Farley pointed to a shortage of 600,000 factory workers and 500,000 construction workers in the US. One of the themes of the event was how to attract workers to these unfilled jobs, especially amid an AI-fueled data center boom.
“The narrative for the last 30 years has been, ‘Go out and get that four-year degree,’” Chavez-DeRemer said. “But to counter that 30-year narrative, now, for people to understand that there’s pride in building back America, that’s what this administration is doing. And so my part of the…equation is to make sure that we’re upskilling and reskilling the American worker, and letting businesses know that we’re here to help.”
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Chavez-DeRemer touted opportunities in the skilled trades, like well-paying jobs, in addition to efforts by the Trump administration to support training programs. The Department of Labor recently awarded $86 million in grants to 14 states to support investments in skills training programs.
“We are not here to displace the American workforce at all,” Chavez-DeRemer said, “but we want to give them the tools so that they can be proficient and literate to move along with what is here to stay.”
Risks and rewards: Farley has been vocal about the ways he believes AI could disrupt the white-collar workforce in the US, but said he sees opportunities for blue-collar workers to benefit from the tech’s growth.
“When I look at the AI solutions that get pitched to Ford, they’re all about white-collar efficiency,” he said. “Very few AI companies come to us and say, ‘We want to dramatically help your efficiency repairing cars or your factory workers.’”
But it’s up to local communities, small businesses, corporate leaders, government officials, and other stakeholders to come together and make sure demand for “essential economy” jobs aligns with the workforce, he argued.
“We have to put some points on the board here,” he said. “And if Ford has to take the lead or other companies have to take the lead, if we have to sacrifice our short-term profitability to put more people in the workforce as apprentices, I think we’re going to have to.”