Federal agencies and large companies would need to report layoffs due to artificial intelligence (AI) under new legislation introduced Wednesday by Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
The AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act would mandate those agencies and companies to report quarterly to the Department of Labor (DOL) any layoffs and unfilled positions due to AI, in addition to any AI-driven hiring and retraining due to AI-related changes.
“Good policy starts with good data. This bipartisan legislation will finally give us a clear picture of AI’s impact on the workforce – what jobs are being eliminated, which workers are being retrained, and where new opportunities are emerging,” Warner said in a statement.
“Armed with this information, we can make sure AI drives opportunity instead of leaving workers behind,” added Warner.
The data collected by the DOL would be compiled into a report made available to Congress and would be published on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
Each disclosure of AI-related hiring changes will be required to specify the industry sector where the change took place.
Other smaller private companies may also be required to make similar disclosures, though with proportional and confidential reporting requirements determined through later rulemaking, according to the bill’s text.
“Artificial intelligence is already replacing American workers, and experts project AI could drive unemployment up to 10-20% in the next five years,” said Hawley. “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.”
A recent report led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., found that AI-related job losses could total up to 100 million in the next ten years, with those industries most impacted including fast food and counter workers, accountants, software engineers, and truck drivers.
How to regulate the growth of AI and its impact on workers has been a growing bipartisan concern in Congress, with other senators recently alluding to future legislation coming from their offices to soften the blows of innovation on working Americans.