How to help people who lose their jobs to AI

In the fifth episode of the Platformer podcast, Brookings senior fellow Molly Kinder argues that the AI jobs debate is stuck in a useless seesaw between apocalypse and denial — and that the real danger lies in the "messy middle," where AI doesn't kill most jobs but concentrates its damage on some of the most coveted careers in America. Her rule of thumb: if you can do your job locked in a closet with a computer, you're probably in trouble.

Platformer's Casey Newton talks to the author of "The Messy Middle" about why white-collar workers will feel AI before blue-collar workers do, whether AI is about to reverse the 50-year boom in knowledge work, how the jobs that were safest during COVID became the riskiest in the AI era, why de-skilling could quietly turn $85,000 jobs into minimum-wage ones, why cutting everyone a UBI check would destroy the labor market, and what targeted policies — from a workforce reinvestment fund to wage insurance — might actually manage the transition.

Kinder also breaks some news: after three years leading Brookings' research on AI and work, she reveals — on her last day at the think tank — that she's launching a new organization devoted to solving, not just studying, the AI jobs problem.

Plus, Platformer fellow Ella Markianos joins at the top of the show to discuss this week's news about AI and jobs.

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