California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order directing state agencies to prepare workers and businesses for potential disruptions caused by artificial intelligence. Newsom’s office described the initiative as a first-in-the-nation approach. The order calls on state agencies to develop new policies, gather data, and identify early warning signs of workforce changes. The executive order also directs the state to explore job training programs, support for displaced workers, and ways for workers to share in productivity boosts from AI.It calls for the Employment Development Department to launch a dashboard showing AI’s impact across various sectors. UC Davis professor Hemant Bhargava, an expert in economic modeling and tech companies, joined KCRA 3 to talk about the order. “There will be massive disruption and upheaval due to AI,” he said. “Exactly what direction it will take will depend on many choices that we make.” He said the order recognizes that “there is a problem. It does not propose solutions because at this point they don’t know what the right solutions are.” Bhargava said that previous experience with “paradigm-shifting technologies” showed that “we are never prepared when it happens.” Bhargava said that at the moment AI is having a “sizable impact” on white collar jobs. “Work that could be done by two people in one month can be done by one person in a day,” he said. “If we get to the point where AI technologies, large language models can marry robotics, you might see similar effects happening in other manufacturing jobs, blue collar jobs.” He said where AI is already being felt the most is with entry-level jobs. That raises a conundrum because “you cannot get trained to do the next level if you never have an entry-level job. I think this is where the government and agencies have an opportunity to take actions that will mitigate that problem.” See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order directing state agencies to prepare workers and businesses for potential disruptions caused by artificial intelligence.
Newsom’s office described the initiative as a first-in-the-nation approach. The order calls on state agencies to develop new policies, gather data, and identify early warning signs of workforce changes.
Advertisement
The executive order also directs the state to explore job training programs, support for displaced workers, and ways for workers to share in productivity boosts from AI.
It calls for the Employment Development Department to launch a dashboard showing AI’s impact across various sectors.
UC Davis professor Hemant Bhargava, an expert in economic modeling and tech companies, joined KCRA 3 to talk about the order.
“There will be massive disruption and upheaval due to AI,” he said. “Exactly what direction it will take will depend on many choices that we make.”
He said the order recognizes that “there is a problem. It does not propose solutions because at this point they don’t know what the right solutions are.”
Bhargava said that previous experience with “paradigm-shifting technologies” showed that “we are never prepared when it happens.”
Bhargava said that at the moment AI is having a “sizable impact” on white collar jobs.
“Work that could be done by two people in one month can be done by one person in a day,” he said. “If we get to the point where AI technologies, large language models can marry robotics, you might see similar effects happening in other manufacturing jobs, blue collar jobs.”
He said where AI is already being felt the most is with entry-level jobs.
That raises a conundrum because “you cannot get trained to do the next level if you never have an entry-level job. I think this is where the government and agencies have an opportunity to take actions that will mitigate that problem.”
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel