The WPI Conversation: ‘Every job now and in the future is going to have an AI component to it’ - WP Intelligence

The acting secretary of labor on preparing Americans for the future of work

Keith Sonderling was named the acting secretary of labor in April by President Donald Trump. A former employment lawyer, leader of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, and former vice-chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Sonderling has had a long-standing interest in the impact of AI on the workforce. Now, he is charged with leading the administration’s efforts to prepare the labor force for the AI era.

America’s AI Action Plan from the Trump administration assigns the Department of Labor a specific set of tasks: to empower workers in the age of AI by expanding AI skills development, evaluating AI’s impact on the labor market and piloting new innovations to rapidly retrain workers.

WP Intelligence Editorial Director Luiza Savage spoke with the acting secretary about these efforts onstage at the AI+ Expo conference in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Special Competitiveness Studies Project (SCSP) last week. Below are edited highlights of the conversation. A full video recording follows.

Q: What are you seeing in the aggregate? Is AI displacing jobs? And where is it creating them?