Regardless of whether AI will lead to a “job apocalypse” or make work optional, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) is warning “the battle of our time will be AI”—and he predicts it’ll be particularly difficult for new grads entering the workforce, who face an 5.6% unemployment rate.
“I will bet anybody in the audience that goes to 30 or 35% within the next two years,” Warner said. “And if we don’t figure this out—I say this as a pro-AI, pro-tech guy—we’re going to get screwed.”
Warner’s estimate may seem extreme, but it tracks with AI leaders who are towing the line between warning the public of their tech predictions and starting widespread panic.
“If you take Dario, Sam, you take all the evangelists. I think they are literally consciously pulling back on their predictions because of the short-term economic disruption,” Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said during a panel at the Hill and Valley Forum, a conference bringing together Washington policymakers and Silicon Valley executives on Tuesday.
Warner, speaking at the panel entitled “From Capital to Capability: Rebuilding U.S. Industrial Strength” at the event, has often made statements to similar effect.Last week, Warner blasted the White House’s framework to regulate AI, saying it “lacks significant substance.” The Trump administration laid out general policy areas for Congress to address, including children’s privacy, intellectual property rights, and developing “an AI-ready workforce.” In a statement, Warner faulted the White House for shutting down the Senate Intelligence Committee’s bill on national security threats from advanced AI and ignoring AI-powered misinformation entirely.
