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Gina Raimondo remains optimistic that artificial intelligence will eventually create more jobs, including roles that people cannot yet imagine. She wants its benefits to spread through better health care, technology and data while expanding opportunity across America.

Her immediate concern is the potentially brutal transition. The former U.S. Commerce Secretary and Rhode Island Governor fears that mass layoffs could damage the economy and tear at the nation’s already strained social fabric.

“I think the worst-case scenario is that we don’t have a plan to make sure that every American can have a good job in the age of AI,” Raimondo told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin during the first episode of Season 2 of the “CNBC Changemakers” podcast.

Raimondo said tens of millions of Americans could become unemployed or underemployed without sufficient planning. She warned that such an outcome could produce a deep, prolonged recession and even rioting in the streets amid worsening economic inequality and a fraying democracy.

“If we just let AI loose, and wake up in, I don’t know, three or four years with a 10-11% unemployment rate, 20% unemployment rate among young people, people in their 20s, I think we’re screwed,” Raimondo said.

The ultimate impact on employment remains uncertain. Many jobs are currently booming because of AI, while preliminary research into the technology’s effects on wages and employment remains educated guesswork, with study authors themselves warning against excessive certainty.

Raimondo nevertheless believes AI will produce net job growth over the long term, as other technologies have done. Her concern is that markets alone will not carry workers through the transition without major disruption, especially if technology is deployed without a plan for those displaced.

Those fears grew after Raimondo left her position as President Biden’s Commerce Secretary. She said several chief executives at major U.S. corporations contacted her about potentially massive job losses from AI and robotics, with some effectively asking what she intended to do about the problem.

Raimondo also views reports involving rogue AI agents and dangerous incidents across models as evidence that capabilities may be advancing without enough preparation. In a LinkedIn post following revelations from OpenAI and Anthropic, she called for more work on policies and programs addressing potential harms.

She warned that failing to ensure AI is safe to adopt, or allowing it to generate massive unemployment, could inflict irreparable damage on democracy and the social fabric. She also fears a severe backlash could prompt regulators to block innovation, potentially surrendering technological leadership to China and other nations.

Raimondo cofounded Raise Us with former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb to connect private capital and government around worker transition programs. Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, AMD, ADP, Bank of America, Blackstone, Cisco, Eli Lilly, GM, IBM, Mastercard and UPS are among the companies initially involved.

The organization is working with businesses and governors in Arkansas, Utah, Maryland and Connecticut. Its objective is to encourage employers to implement AI without suddenly pulling the floor from under tens of millions of Americans, while helping governors revise policies for a planned transition.

Ideas under examination include year of service programs for young adults uncertain about their career paths, new unemployment insurance models, salary support and worker retraining. Particular attention is being directed toward people in their 50s who could struggle to find new careers offering comparable pay.

Raimondo also wants policymakers to reconsider how labor is taxed. She noted that employers pay payroll taxes for workers but nothing for an AI agent, creating a financial incentive to eliminate employees and replace them with agents.

Older displaced workers are a personal concern for Raimondo because her father lost his manufacturing career to outsourcing without a bridge into another field. She argues that America’s workforce system, unemployment insurance and college subsidy structure are outdated and should be reconsidered as AI transforms employment.

Raimondo has little confidence that Congress will pass effective bipartisan legislation helping workers within the next three years. She is instead building what she calls a coalition of willing executives and boards, while warning that many companies remain focused on short term profit, short term share prices and immediate layoffs.

“The incentive now is to hit the layoff button,” Raimondo said. Her effort reflects a race to build worker protections before corporate incentives and rapidly advancing AI combine to trigger the mass displacement she fears.

DISCLAIMER: GoldInvestors.news is not a registered investment, legal or tax advisor or broker/dealer. All investment/financial opinions expressed by GoldInvestors.news are from the personal research and experience of the owner of the site and are intended as educational material. Although best efforts are made to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date, occasionally unintended errors and misprints may occur.