San Mateo County, which already has its fair share of artificial intelligence startups, made a move Tuesday to protect workers.
A new resolution says as the county welcomes AI companies, it will also work to make sure none of the 5,800 county employees lose their job to a machine.
"While we are the hub of innovation here in San Mateo County and we have a lot of these companies, a lot of them, we have to support them, we have to support the technology, but at the same time we have to ensure our workers that that technology is not going to take their job," Supervisor David Canepa said.
Supervisor Ray Mueller, who authored and introduced the policy, provided the following statement:
"The future of work in San Mateo County, and California, will include AI but its policy makers must work to ensure that AI’s implementation retains the balance of embracing innovation, without sacrificing the prosperity of our human workforce. We must ask if technological implementation also generates new jobs and raises our collective quality of life, as opposed to just eliminating the need for workforce. This is the only way we can ensure the public health and future economic stability for County residents."
Mueller also added:
“Almost 100 years ago the economist John Maynard Keynes warned us of ‘technological unemployment due to our discovery of means of economizing the use of labor, outrunning the pace at which we can find new uses for labor’ and this AI policy, in essence, is meant to safeguard against that outcome. The future of work in San Mateo County, and California, will include AI but its policy makers must work to ensure that AI’s implementation retains the balance of embracing innovation, without sacrificing the prosperity of our human workforce. We must ask if technological implementation also generates new jobs and raises our collective quality of life, as opposed to just eliminating the need for workforce. This is the only way we can ensure the public health and future economic stability for County residents."
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NBC Bay Area's Scott Budman has more in the video above.
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