Key facts
- California launched the nation's first AI-Unemployment Tracker dashboard.
- The dashboard aims to monitor job losses potentially caused by artificial intelligence.
- State officials have not found evidence of widespread AI-driven layoffs.
- Early signs of displacement have been identified among college-educated workers in AI-exposed occupations.
- The tracker was developed by the California Employment Development Department and the California Policy Lab.
California has launched the nation's first public dashboard to track potential job losses attributed to artificial intelligence, a move that reflects growing concerns among policymakers about the impact of AI on the labor market. Governor Gavin Newsom announced the AI-Unemployment Tracker, developed by the California Employment Development Department and researchers at the California Policy Lab's UCLA site, which will update monthly.
The dashboard aims to identify workers who may need retraining, job-search assistance, or other support as AI technology advances. Professor Till von Wachter of UCLA stated that the tracker "helps replace speculation with evidence, giving us a clearer understanding of what’s changing and how to best support affected workers."
While state officials have not yet found evidence of widespread AI-driven layoffs, they have identified higher unemployment claims among college-educated workers in occupations with high AI exposure, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, following the launch of ChatGPT-3.5. This comes amid warnings from AI leaders, such as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who predicted AI could eliminate up to half of entry-level white-collar jobs within five years.
Similar concerns have been voiced by other policymakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Josh Hawley, who introduced legislation requiring companies to report AI-related layoffs. New York Assembly member Alex Bores proposed an "AI Dividend" tied to AI-driven job displacement. A recent Federal Reserve study indicated a significant drop in U.S. programmer job growth after ChatGPT's launch, providing some of the strongest evidence to date of generative AI affecting hiring in specific occupations.