San Mateo County supervisors this week approved a resolution from Supervisor Ray Mueller affirming the county's commitment to maintaining county jobs during advances in artificial intelligence.
“Nearly 100 years ago, economist John Maynard Keynes warned us about ‘technological unemployment,’ that is, a period of technological disruption, in which job losses caused by technological advances will outstrip job creation,” Mueller said. “This AI policy, in essence, is meant to protect against that outcome.”
The resolution, which passed unanimously, also directs the County Executive Office to develop strategies that balance technological advancement with workforce sustainability.
“The future of work in San Mateo County and across California will include AI, but policymakers must work to ensure that AI implementation maintains a balance of innovation adoption, without sacrificing the prosperity of our human workforce,” Mueller said.
While some forms of artificial intelligence have been around for years, chatbots like ChatGPT, which mimic human interaction, have only been widely available for a little over a year. AI tools can create and process large amounts of data and can often streamline administrative tasks and processes.
At the same time, he said, “AI systems may produce unintended consequences due to bias, errors, or unforeseen circumstances. These unintended consequences may have important moral implications, such as discriminatory behavior, violations of privacy, or harm to individuals or society.”
The quote, the county said in a statement, is the response of a chatbot when asked about the risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence.
“When a chatbot literally tells us it is biased, we need to listen,” Mueller said. “While the potential of AI is enormous, we also need to recognize that AI routinely makes mistakes. What we are doing here in San Mateo County is taking a measured and reasonable approach to examining how we can incorporate AI into our work without putting jobs or the services we provide at risk.”
The number of jobs at risk due to advances in AI continues to rise.
According to a report by Goldman Sachs March 2023, “if generative AI delivers on its promised capabilities, the labor market could face significant disruptions.
Using data on occupational tasks in both the United States and Europe, it was found that approximately two-thirds of current jobs are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and that generative AI could replace up to a quarter of current work.
Extrapolation of estimates globally suggests that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation.”
A study published in July 2023 by Pew Research found that one-fifth of all workers in 2022 were in jobs most exposed to AI. The study found that “women, Asians, college-educated and higher-paid workers are most exposed.”
“We must ask ourselves whether technological implementation also creates new jobs and elevates our collective quality of life, rather than simply eliminating the need for a workforce. This is the only way we can ensure public health and the future economic stability of county residents,” Mueller said.
You may be interested in: Vaccines, the best way to combat the Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
