As leaders of U.S. artificial intelligence firms continue to claim their technologies could overtake human labor and intelligence in a matter of years, Sen. Mark Kelly has proposed creating a federal trust fund to shield American workers from potential large-scale job losses. And he wants AI technology firms to pay for it.
Kelly says the fund is designed to combat wealth inequalities between leaders of AI advancement and workers who may have their jobs replaced by technology.
Kelly announced the “Make AI Work for Americans Act” was forthcoming on the Senate floor Tuesday. A final version of the bill lays out how taxes on the AI industry and other approved federal spending could be collected and put toward an “AI Horizon Fund."
A 15-member Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council made up of non-federal AI, labor, higher education and workforce development experts, would guide spending of the funds.
Along with expanding existing workforce development programs and research, the AI Horizon Fund could support increasing unemployment benefits to cover 75% of lost wages for 26 weeks. Most states currently replace between 30 to 50% of wages, according to Brookings.
The bill has support from Microsoft, the Teamsters labor union, the Gila River Indian Community, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, among others.
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