9 Ways Uncle Sam Can Protect Us From The Upcoming AI Onslaught!

There's no way for any individual Wage Slave to outhustle the AI Grim Reaper.

This isn't a case of one industry - or even a clusters of industries in the same sector - going through an upheaval. It's a trending "tech tidal wave" that is going to reshape the American workplace as we know it, in ways that we can't even fathom. It sounds easy to tell a batch of newly displaced workers, "Just retrain yourself in AI. It will be all good." Not only is that hype, but it's a bold faced falsehood.

If Retraining Someone Into An AI Field Is So Easy, "Riddle me this Batman!"

Learning a new skill like AI is hard enough for dedicated 4-year college students who don't have to work or balance the needs of running a household or a raising a family. Let's explore some considerations for the mid-career workers need to consider:

• Do you have a background in math? Not 2+2 ordinary math. I'm talking linear algebra, calculus, statistics, and some probability. If you don't, learning the foundational math ALONE is a often 2-year process for AI-based careers!

• Typical machine learning for novices takes 6 months. Add this to your math curriculum.

• Can you code? If not, better learn Python too. If you don't know what Python is, don't pass go, don't collect $200, or waste your time applying for AI jobs.

• Hope you are a time-management guru, because now you have to learn AI basics, while job searching, and still doing all the other middle-aged adulting BS that sucks the energy out of your day and slows your progress to a snail's crawl.

• So you actually made it through the gauntlet and have new AI credentials! Yay. However, experience trumps education for recruiters, so you can only realistically compete against other AI novices for entry-level roles.

• Oh, and many of your competitors have 4-year or postgraduate degrees in AI-related fields and have interned, so you will be at the bottom of the "no AI work experience" cohort vying for work.

• Lastly, how many entry-level AI jobs do you think are available in your city?

• P.S. Don't assume you are guaranteed to pass an AI-training class in the first place!

9 Ideas How Uncle Sam Can Protect Wage Slaves From AI Salary Obliteration

Finding a job in the coming AI workforce will involve more than your innate hustle, persistence, and planning. It's a global macroeconomic trend that is bigger than you! This reality raises urgent questions about how our government can step in to protect workers and communities from widespread unemployment and economic hardship. The challenge is clear: without thoughtful intervention, many Americans could face job loss and financial insecurity - probably causing the first Depression in 100 years.

This article explores practical ways the government can act NOW to shield workers from the coming AI-driven job upheaval. While these proposals are not a cureall, we have to start brainstorming how to shield our jobs, livelihoods, and economy NOW.

1. Government Vocational Investing & Tax Relief

AI will change the skills employers need, making many current jobs obsolete. Local and/or the federal government must fund accessible education and training programs that help workers learn new skills throughout their careers. This means funding community colleges, vocational schools, and online certification classes to deliver affordable, flexible training. If there are no free or available AI-trainings in an individual's vicinity, any money spent in completing an AI job training course should be tax deductible.

Programs like the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) already offer retraining for workers displaced by foreign trade/increased imports, but expanding such initiatives to cover AI-related displacement is critical. With our federal government actively pushing AI investment, it's totally negligent not to prepare and protect those who will be displaced by advancements in automation that render their jobs moot!

2. Employers Must Provide Retraining For AI-Displaced Workers

Employers who downsize their workforce due to AI/automation, should offer complementary AI training classes, as part of severance packages for displaced talent. This can be enforced by slapping non-complaint companies with an onerous tax for or incentivizing companies through tax deductibles or credits for ensuring their former workers can support themselves in the new economy. Responsible employers SHOULD save a buck and be rewarded for compassionate and forward thinking in their offboarding practices.

3. Encourage Job Creation in AI-Resistant Sectors

Not all jobs are equally vulnerable to AI. Roles requiring creativity, emotional intelligence, physical dexterity, and complex human interaction are harder to automate. The government can promote growth in these sectors through targeted investments and tax incentives.

Healthcare, education, and social work are examples of fields expected to grow despite AI advances. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects healthcare occupations will add 2.6 million jobs alone from 2021 to 2031.

By funding infrastructure projects, supporting small businesses, offering tax breaks, and promoting public service campaigns celebrating companies hiring in AI-resistant roles, the government can help create new employment opportunities and demand.

4. Regulate AI Deployment to Protect Workers’ Rights

Unchecked AI adoption risks displacing workers without safeguards. The government should establish regulations that require companies to assess AI’s impact on employment in their industry and affected localities. Then, compel companies via legislation to implement measures to protect workers. Example #1: AI-induced mass layoffs to cut operating costs or to maximize profits should be outright prohibited or heavily taxed to the point of disincentivizing such an inhumane practice. Example #2: Companies that use AI to automate some tasks, but ensure over 90% of their workforce is retained over a calendar year, can receive tax breaks.

Furthermore, mandating companies to conduct impact assessments before large-scale AI deployment can help identify risks early and encourage companies to invest in human-AI collaboration rather than replacement.

5. Expand Federal WARN Laws To Include AI-Related Job Displacement

WARN laws were designed to protect full-time workers from sudden mass layoffs or plant closings with 60 days' advanced written notice from companies - that have over 100 employees or who are laying off 50 or more employees in a single location. Federal and state governments must update WARN laws to protect workers from Corporate America's impeding AI implementation. This includes longer mandatory notice periods, severance pay requirements, and retraining support.

Example: A law requiring companies to provide six months’ notice before replacing staff with AI systems, along with funding for retraining.

6. Encourage Transparent Ethical AI Deployment/Temporary Ban On AI That Replaces More Than 10% Of Its Workforce In A Given Fiscal Year

Companies should be held accountable for how they use AI. Ethical guidelines can prevent reckless automation that prioritizes profits over people. Also, companies should be transparent on the % of the positions for the outgoing workforce, that will be replaced by AI. Moreover, companies should be banned from dislodging more than 10% of it's workforce in a given fiscal year. We can't flood localities with tons of ex-workers. This will have horrible ripple effects to the supply of available jobs in a given area, disrupt the job seeker ecosystem, and drive down wages for job seekers.

Example #1 : A company adopting AI only after demonstrating it will augment user capabilities, rather than replace human workers, will receive generous tax credits. Example #2: When companies report mass layoffs, they should be compelled to announce the % of those laid off that are directly liked to AI implementation.

7. Strengthen Social Safety Nets for Displaced Workers

Job loss due to AI can cause severe financial strain. The government should enhance unemployment benefits and create new support systems tailored to AI-driven disruptions.

For example, the U.S. unemployment insurance (UI) system currently covers about 26 weeks on average, but many displaced workers need longer support to find new employment or complete retraining. Extending UI benefits, offering tax breaks or credits for retraining and job seeking, and including stipends for education can ease the transition. Alternatively, companies that do AI-related, mass layoffs could pay displaced workers the equivalent amount of what that worker would've received on their state UI benefits up to 1-year max. Then, when that "Corporate Fired Fund" exhausts, state governments can assisted the displaced with extended UI of up to 1-year max.

8. Support Universal Basic Income (UBI) Trials

If AI eliminates jobs faster than new ones appear, there will be a devastating ripple effect on the economy. The long-term unemployed, who are surviving only through their savings, support of other family members, temp jobs, passive income streams, or through God's Provision - hurt the interdependent macroeconomy in other ways. Such individuals are likely paying little-to-no taxes to assist funding government programs and have little disposable income to support local businesses. Thus, less government programs are available for the disadvantaged and local small businesses suffers when a household's discretionary spending goes down. Example: Barbershops, hair and nail salons, massage parlors, restaurants, clothing stores, multiplexes, malls, and retailers all suffer during recessions - as such services and products are typically the first cut when a family goes through a financial freefall. While UBI is not optimally desirable for a litany of reasons, if AI displaces millions of workers virtually overnight, UBI will be needed to prevent another Great Depression. UBI experiments worldwide show promise in providing financial stability while workers retrain or find new roles.

Example: Finland’s UBI trial gave unemployed citizens a monthly stipend, reducing stress and encouraging job search without desperation. Also, recent pandemic studies have shown unemployment benefits boost local business by maintaining customer demand, keeping such businesses viable, and preventing a community wide decline.

9. Incentivize An Increase In Skilled Trades Training

Those who work in the skilled trades, such as an electrician, plumber, mechanic, construction, repairmen, etc. are safe from the immediate encroachment of their jobs to AI - for now. There are an estimated 1 million unfilled, high-paying, skilled trades jobs across America - with 500,000 in manufacturing alone - due to workers aging out and a cultural bias towards pursuing college degrees. Thus, we have a desirable situation of high supply and low demand that benefits skilled trades jobseekers with negotiation leverage and rising wages. Nonetheless, with the persistent skills gap in the trades causing underemployment that will hurt the macroeconomy in the decades to come, it behooves our government to start incentivizing workers to enter the trades for all of our mutual good. Example: Los Angeles can subsidize vocational education to encourage workers to enter into welding. Or, those who had to pay for welding training out-of-pocket, can deduct the vocational training on their next year's tax forms to further incentivize people to work in these vital AND lucrative fields.

Conclusion - Uncle Sam and Corporate America Need To Share The Burden

The Pew Research Center noted 64% of Americans are worried about AI’s impact on jobs, highlighting the need for private enterprise-public government partnerships for retraining programs, AI implementation guardrails, additional safety net resources, incentive programs for AI-resistant sectors, and strict penalties for greedy violators.

Corporate CEO's care only about fattening their bottom line, but if AI replaces most of us without a robust and integrated insurance plan and pathways to new employment - who will be able to afford their products? Where will governments get tax revenues for UBI, grants, or retraining programs? Notwithstanding, for those who can fix, build, provide personal services, or install things, getting in a trade is the best AI job protection you can do right now! For The Rest Of Us... With a comprehensive plan of worker friendly legislation; AI implementation regulations; UBI and tax credit/deductible trials for jobseekers; and tax disincentives for enterprises shedding too much personnel, too quickly - we can shore up the collective dam to prevent AI from washing away Wage Slaves entirely.

Further Reading: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2025/04/22/the-booming-job-market-for-skilled-tradespersons/

------------------------------------------------------------ Providing reskilling opportunities can help these workers transition into growing fields like healthcare, technology, and green energy. Example: Grants, tax credits, and low-interest loans for workers starting AI-assisted service businesses like personalized tutoring or niche consulting.Implement Stronger Worker Protection Laws

Foster Public-Private Partnerships for Retraining Example: A tech company partners with local governments to offer free coding bootcamps for displaced workers.

Foster Public-Private Partnerships for Retraining/Invest in Lifelong Education and Reskilling Programs Solutions 1a) If one is forced to come out of pocket due to lack of free AI re-training options, it should be tax deductible 1b) Local governments should have free community AI re-training programs. 2) Employers who are phasing out jobs to AI (or other forms of automation) should be forced to fund displaced workers in a AI re-training programs

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10. Cultivate a Culture That Values Human Work

Finally, society should resist the temptation to worship AI as a miracle worker. Human work has intrinsic value beyond productivity metrics.

Example: Campaigns celebrating skilled trades, caregiving, and creative professions as essential to community well-being.

CONCLUSION - Governments and businesses should team up to create accessible retraining programs tailored to future job markets. Artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, reshaping industries and threatening millions of jobs. The looming reality of tens of millions of Americans changing industries midstream is here. Without proven and affordable educational retraining pathway programs, sufficient safety nets, and protective regulations put in place as guardrails - sets the American worker up to fail. While other factors are c, leaving people scrambling for relevance. If we don't create guardrails to curb the proliferation of AI, until we can come up with a societal plan to ensure jobs are protected or AI-displaced workers have a giant lily pad to survive while they get retrained and look for new opportunities, we're heading for jobs crisis that would make the Great Depression look like....----Promote Jobs That Require Human Touch

AI can crunch numbers but can’t replicate empathy, negotiation, or nuanced judgment. Society should value and create more roles in healthcare, education, counseling, and creative arts.

Example: Grants, tax credits, and low-interest loans for workers starting AI-assisted service businesses like personalized tutoring or niche consulting.Implement Stronger Worker Protection Laws

Governments must update labor laws to protect workers from sudden layoffs due to AI implementation. This includes mandatory notice periods, severance pay, and retraining support.

Example: A law requiring companies to provide six months’ notice before replacing staff with AI systems, along with funding for retraining.

4. Encourage Ethical AI Deployment

Companies should be held accountable for how they use AI. Ethical guidelines can prevent reckless automation that prioritizes profits over people.

Example: A company adopting AI only after demonstrating it will augment rather than replace human workers.

5. Support Universal Basic Income (UBI) Trials

If AI eliminates jobs faster than new ones appear, society needs a safety net. UBI experiments worldwide show promise in providing financial stability while workers retrain or find new roles.

Example: Finland’s UBI trial gave unemployed citizens a monthly stipend, reducing stress and encouraging job search without desperation.

6. Foster Public-Private Partnerships for Retraining

Governments and businesses should team up to create accessible retraining programs tailored to future job markets.

Example: A tech company partners with local governments to offer free coding bootcamps for displaced workers.

8. Limit AI Use in Certain Sectors

Some jobs are too critical or sensitive to hand over to AI. Governments can regulate AI deployment in areas like law enforcement, social services, and journalism.

Example: A policy banning fully automated decision-making in welfare eligibility to ensure human oversight.

9. Increase Transparency in AI Decisions

Workers deserve to know when AI affects their jobs. Transparency builds trust and allows for better planning and adaptation.

Example: Companies must disclose AI’s role in hiring, firing, or performance evaluations.

10. Cultivate a Culture That Values Human Work

Finally, society should resist the temptation to worship AI as a miracle worker. Human work has intrinsic value beyond productivity metrics.

Example: Campaigns celebrating skilled trades, caregiving, and creative professions as essential to community well-being.

While other factors are c, leaving people scrambling for relevance. If we don't create guardrails to curb the proliferation of AI, until we can come up with a societal plan to ensure jobs are protected or AI-displaced workers have a giant lily pad to survive while they get retrained and look for new opportunities, we're heading for jobs crisis that would make the Great Depression look like....----Promote Jobs That Require Human Touch

AI can crunch numbers but can’t replicate empathy, negotiation, or nuanced judgment. Society should value and create more roles in healthcare, education, counseling, and creative arts.

Example: Governments can fund programs that train workers for caregiving roles, where AI can assist but not replace human warmth.The top industries and professions AI will significantly affect next include Customer Service, Content Creation (writing, editing), Finance (bookkeeping, analysis), Legal (paralegals), Transportation (drivers, logistics), and Tech roles (developers, data scientists), alongside broad impacts in Healthcare, Marketing, and Manufacturing, with AI automating tasks like data entry, translation, and scheduling, while creating demand for new roles in AI ethics, product management, and specialized engineering. 

Here's a breakdown of key industries and roles:

High Impact Roles (Often Automatable/Transformable):

1. Customer Service Representatives & Call Centers: AI chatbots handle inquiries, freeing humans for complex issues.

2. Writers, Editors, & Translators: Generative AI assists with content creation, proofreading, and translation.

3. Data Entry Clerks & Administrative Assistants: Repetitive data tasks are prime for automation.

4. Bookkeepers & Accounting Assistants: AI manages transactions and basic reporting.

5. Paralegals & Legal Assistants: AI supports research and compliance.

6. Market Research Analysts (Entry-Level): AI analyzes vast datasets for trends.

7. Telemarketers & Sales Reps: AI handles calls and initial outreach. 

Industries Undergoing Major Shifts:

8. Healthcare: AI aids diagnostics, drug discovery, and administrative tasks, impacting roles from admin to research.

9. Transportation & Logistics: Autonomous vehicles and AI optimize supply chains, affecting drivers and warehouse workers.

10. Finance & Banking: AI automates fraud detection, analysis, and financial advice.

11. Retail & Hospitality: Automated checkouts, inventory, and customer service.

12. Media & Entertainment: Content generation, editing, and personalization. 

Emerging AI-Driven Roles (High Demand):

• AI Ethics Officers, AI Product Managers, AI Solutions Architects, Machine Learning Engineers, Computer Vision Engineers, and Cybersecurity Analysts with AI expertise. 

Example: Governments can fund programs that train workers for caregiving roles, where AI can assist but not replace human warmth.The top industries and professions AI will significantly affect next include Customer Service, Content Creation (writing, editing), Finance (bookkeeping, analysis), Legal (paralegals), Transportation (drivers, logistics), and Tech roles (developers, data scientists), alongside broad impacts in Healthcare, Marketing, and Manufacturing, with AI automating tasks like data entry, translation, and scheduling, while creating demand for new roles in AI ethics, product management, and specialized engineering. 

Here's a breakdown of key industries and roles:

High Impact Roles (Often Automatable/Transformable):

1. Customer Service Representatives & Call Centers: AI chatbots handle inquiries, freeing humans for complex issues.

2. Writers, Editors, & Translators: Generative AI assists with content creation, proofreading, and translation.

3. Data Entry Clerks & Administrative Assistants: Repetitive data tasks are prime for automation.

4. Bookkeepers & Accounting Assistants: AI manages transactions and basic reporting.

5. Paralegals & Legal Assistants: AI supports research and compliance.

6. Market Research Analysts (Entry-Level): AI analyzes vast datasets for trends.

7. Telemarketers & Sales Reps: AI handles calls and initial outreach. 

Industries Undergoing Major Shifts:

8. Healthcare: AI aids diagnostics, drug discovery, and administrative tasks, impacting roles from admin to research.

9. Transportation & Logistics: Autonomous vehicles and AI optimize supply chains, affecting drivers and warehouse workers.

10. Finance & Banking: AI automates fraud detection, analysis, and financial advice.

11. Retail & Hospitality: Automated checkouts, inventory, and customer service.

12. Media & Entertainment: Content generation, editing, and personalization. 

Emerging AI-Driven Roles (High Demand):

• AI Ethics Officers, AI Product Managers, AI Solutions Architects, Machine Learning Engineers, Computer Vision Engineers, and Cybersecurity Analysts with AI expertise.