AI and Jobs: Why Two US Governors Joined Forces to Protect Workers

The facts

• 1Former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb (Republican) and former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo (Democrat) are working together across party lines to tackle the problem of AI-driven job losses.
• 2Artificial intelligence can now perform tasks like writing reports, screening job applications, answering customer calls, and processing data — roles that millions of workers currently hold.
• 3The two governors argue that retraining workers — teaching them new skills for new types of jobs — is more practical than trying to stop AI from being adopted by companies.
• 4Their cross-party effort highlights that AI's impact on employment is seen as too urgent to be treated as a Republican or Democrat issue — both sides agree action is needed, even if they disagree on the details.
• 5One key tradeoff: retraining programmes cost money and take time, and workers who lose jobs mid-career often find it harder to switch fields than younger workers entering the job market fresh.