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Senator Bernie Sanders was recently a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to talk about a range of topics, including artificial intelligence’s impact on the country’s workforce and the betterment of the American people.
“We’ve got to figure out how we make technology work to improve human life — not to hurt human life,” the former US presidential candidate pointed out to host Joe Rogan. His stance seems obvious, but with AI technology threatening the livelihood of those whose jobs it could replace, it is a hot-button topic.
AI’s implementation in the workplace: Possible pros and cons
Sanders and Rogan had covered other workers’ rights issues earlier in their long-form interview, including the country’s $7.25 federal minimum wage. Sanders explained how the recent AI hype has been primarily fueled by tech companies looking to generate shareholder value rather than benefiting the people who work for them.
When pressed for his stance on AI’s impact on the workforce, Sanders acknowledged the potential negatives of the tech movement, primarily job insecurity due to AI replacing workers.
The Vermont senator shared how he would tackle the AI technology issues, arguing that if artificial intelligence is improving workers’ productivity, then those workers deserve to have a lighter, four-day workweek.
“Let’s use technology to benefit workers,” Sanders said. “That means, give you more time with your family, with your friends, for education, whatever the hell you want to do, you don’t have to work 40 hours a week anymore.”
Sanders has long advocated for the four-day workweek. Just last year, he introduced the Thirty-Two Hour Workweek Act, which proposes moving to a 32-hour workweek with no loss of pay to workers. In the interview, he suggested that AI could be the way we achieve it.
“Not a radical idea,” he added. “There are companies around the world that are doing it, with some success.”
Read eWeek’s coverage of JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s vision of 3.5-day workweeks.