Josh Hawley sponsors bill to track American jobs killed by AI

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has sponsored a bill that is set to track AI layoffs as there have been warnings that AI is set to lead to a mass restructuring in the workforce. The bipartisan bill will allow Congress to track how much AI is impacting American jobs.

Hawley introduced the AI-Related Jobs Impacts Clarity Act with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). If the bill is passed, it will have companies as well as federal agencies report how many people are being laid off because of AI in quarterly reports.

This information will then be included in the Department of Labor report. The department will, "for every other quarter, prepare a report analyzing the net impact of the data" on the labor market. Those reports will be made in conjunction with the Office of Management and Budget in the federal government, which also oversees the workforce in the federal government.

The reporting will be applied to both publicly traded as well as non-publicly traded companies, according to the bill text. “Artificial intelligence is already replacing American workers, and experts project AI could drive unemployment up to 10 to 20% in the next five years,” Hawley said. “The American people need to have an accurate understanding of how AI is affecting our workforce, so we can ensure that AI works for the people, not the other way around."

The introduction of the bill comes as there have already been reports of companies laying off portions of their workforce as a result of AI integration. Amazon recently announced that it would be cutting around 30,000 corporate roles at the same time as when the company has been increasing its AI usage.

Per SLTPR, Other companies, such as Salesforce, Klarna, and Duolingo have also attributed layoffs to AI doing the work of employees. "I very much believe that we could see the great AI replacement — that is, thousands and even millions of people getting laid off from their jobs,” Oliver Roberts, a co-director of WashU Law’s AI Collaborative, said. “If your job is something like data entry or going through repeatable processes, your job could be easily automated by artificial intelligence."