Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins/Futurism. Source: Getty Images
This may be hard to believe considering the condition of workers in America. 35 percent of all workers Once belonged to a union. It was the 1940s, the height of American organized labor. Since then, unions have systematically castrated By corporate lobbying, hostile legislation, and half a century of constructed consensus about the virtues of the free market.
It may be hard to imagine that it will ever regain that former glory, but according to some labor experts, the threat of AI may eventually force the issue – as a potential existential threat to workers’ livelihoods that could unite them against a common enemy.
in one interview with GuardianSarita Gupta is vice president of U.S. programs at the Ford Foundation and co-author The future we needargued that AI is “creating an opportunity” for a revitalized labor movement.
He said, “Over time, unions have lost collective bargaining power, and much of that is due to the lack of laws that we need and enforcement of the laws.” “For four decades, productivity rose while wages remained stagnant, and unionization reached historic lows.”
But, Gupta added, “When you have a young Silicon Valley software engineer who feels like their performance is tracked or undermined based on the same logic as a working-class warehouse picker, the class divide dissolves, and larger working-class movements for respect are possible. That’s what we’re starting to see.”
It is worth noting that the Ford Foundation has a documents History Providing funding and cover for State Department infiltration Labor and progressive movements During the Cold War. That said, Gupta’s point may be prescient – the conditions for broad-spectrum unrest among workers appear more ripe than in years.
Both white-collar office drones and blue-collar stiffs alike are suffering from the harshest layoff period since 2009. Meanwhile, recent polling found that 71 percent of Americans fear that AI will “put many people out of work permanently.” and accordingly For the Economic Policy InstituteMore than 50 million American workers across all industries wanted union representation in 2025, but they didn’t get it.
As dissatisfaction is increasing, business leaders seem nervous about this shock. After more than 50,000 Minnesotans were laid off protest led by union Against the murder of Renee Good and Alex Pretty by federal agents, over 60 local officials wrote a letter Calling for an “urgent de-escalation” – citing “widespread disruption” – and the delicately worded message, it asked for permission to “resume our work to build a brighter and more prosperous future”.
As Gupta believes, the outcome of that fear depends entirely on converting workers’ discontent into organized power.
Gupta concluded, “We always have to remind ourselves that the direction of technology is a choice, right? We can use AI to create a surveillance economy that squeezes every drop of value out of a worker, or we can use it to build an era of shared prosperity.” “We know that if the technology were designed and deployed and controlled by working people, AI would not be such a threat.”
More on AI: It turns out that constantly telling workers that they will be replaced by AI has serious psychological effects.
