On this week’s Radically Pragmatic Podcast, Dr. Michael Mandel, Chief Economic Strategist at the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI), sits down with Representative Bill Foster (IL-11), to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and the future of work.
“Twenty years ago, when the web was the big new thing, everybody was going to have to learn HTML. And so a whole generation of kids were taught how to program in HTML. And now, of course, we have billions of people who program in HTML without knowing it, they just maintain their Facebook page. And so I think what’s going to happen is that we’re going to have very advanced tools where there will be millions of people using AI but they won’t have any idea what’s underneath the hood and that’s okay,” said Rep. Foster on the podcast.
Representative Foster is a member of the New Democrat Coalition. He represents Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, and is the only PhD physicist in Congress. Rep. Foster serves on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, the House Select Committee on Coronavirus, and House Financial Services Committee, where he chairs the Committee’s task force on AI.
In the podcast, Dr. Mandel and Representative Foster discuss the diffusion of technological innovations for individual consumers and small businesses, the role of government in privacy, and the work Congress is doing to advance pro-growth policies that will help spur innovation. In particular, they underscored the urgent need to help small businesses adopt AI and meet the numerous challenges they face. Pre-COVID, nearly six in every ten small businesses closed doors within the first five years of operation. Artificial intelligence can help small businesses thrive by:
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The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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