Bernie Sanders Slams 'Stop Hiring Humans' Billboard: Asks How The Workers Displaced By AI Will Survive With 'No Jobs Or Income'
Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized a billboard campaign by AI startup Artisan promoting the replacement of human workers with AI, questioning how displaced workers will survive without jobs or income. His comments reflect growing concerns among U.S. adults about AI-related job losses, with recent layoffs at major companies like UPS, Amazon, and Intel. The situation poses a dilemma for the Federal Reserve, as rapid AI-driven growth may coincide with rising unemployment, challenging traditional economic indicators.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slammed a controversial billboard campaign by a Silicon Valley AI startup that promotes the replacement of human workers with AI and automation.
How Will Displaced Workers Survive?
On Tuesday, in a post on X, the independent from Vermont called out the billboard ad campaign by San Francisco-based AI startup, Artisan, which read, “Stop hiring humans. The Era of AI Employees is Here.”
Sanders, long known for his progressive stance on labor rights and economic justice, criticized the implications of such messaging. “Billboards across the country are promoting the replacement of millions of jobs with AI and robotics,” he said, while asking how the displaced workers can survive “when there are no jobs or income for them?”
The Senator’s post reflects the growing anxiety among workers regarding AI-related job losses, with a recent poll showing that 71% of U.S. adults are worried AI will put “too many people out of work permanently.”
Layoffs Continue To Surge
There has been a surge in job cuts over the past few weeks, across several leading employers in the U.S., with companies like United Postal Service Inc. (NYSE:UPS), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) laying off 48,000, 30,000 and 20,000 workers, respectively.
These are among several other major companies that have announced layoffs in recent weeks, with Amazon CEO Andy Jassy citing the growing use of AI as one of the key reasons behind the reduced need for certain roles.
The company recently attracted controversy following its plans to replace half a million of its workers with AI, automation, robots, and other technologies.
Fed Faces AI Dilemma
According to David Zervos, the Chief Market Strategist at Jefferies, the rapid AI-driven economic growth, alongside a wave of job losses, could put the Federal Reserve in a dilemma.
“Imagine a world, maybe where we’re [the economy] growing at three and a half or four [percent.] Things are really good, but the unemployment rate keeps ticking up,” he said, adding that the Fed’s traditional focus on inflation could blind it to the risks that AI poses to employment.
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