All Podcasts / Freakonomics Radio / 685. How to Survive the A.I. Shock
Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio

685. How to Survive the A.I. Shock

September 04, 2026 • 57m

Summary

⏱️ 8 min read

Overview

Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discusses her new nonprofit Raise Us, which aims to manage the AI transition in the workforce and prevent mass unemployment. Drawing lessons from the China shock and her experience implementing the CHIPS Act, she argues for proactive collaboration between government, employers, and tech companies to retrain workers and create intentional transitions rather than reactive crisis management.

The AI Transition Challenge and Learning from Past Mistakes

Raimondo introduces the fundamental challenge: roughly 60% of today's jobs didn't exist in 1940, and AI threatens to create massive disruption. She explains that Raise Us is working with companies and governors to implement AI without triggering giant job losses, learning from the failures of the China shock when millions of manufacturing jobs were lost. Her father's experience losing his factory job at 56 profoundly shapes her approach to preventing similar economic devastation.

  • 60% of jobs today didn't exist in 1940, raising questions about AI's impact on current employment
  • Raise Us is dedicated to ensuring the U.S. leads in AI while bringing workers along to the AI economy
  • The China shock resulted in offshoring millions of American manufacturing jobs, with effects still felt in economy and politics
  • Raimondo's father lost his factory job at 56 when it moved to China, causing lasting economic insecurity for the family
" What I'm fundamentally trying to figure out working with companies and governors is how do we implement AI without triggering giant job losses? "
" I think everything that we hate about our politics now, more divisive, more partisan, more violent, less rational, people don't actually want to solve problems, they want to fight about them. A lot of that stems from, I believe, this worsening inequality or economic insecurity. "

Corporate Profits vs. Worker Wages and the Case for Reformed Capitalism

Raimondo addresses the growing gap between corporate profits at record highs and worker wages at record lows. She identifies multiple causes including declining union power, low interest rates fueling capital investment, tax cuts, and increased corporate concentration. While she opposes universal basic income and wage guarantees as too heavy-handed, she argues for tempering capitalism to preserve it, warning that current inequality is pushing people toward socialism.

  • Corporate profits rising strongly while share of national income to workers is at or near record low
  • Causes include declining union power, very low interest rates fueling private equity, 2019 tax cuts, and increased corporate concentration
  • Raise Us opposes universal basic income and anything resembling socialism or heavy-handed wage/job guarantees
  • Must temper how capitalism plays out in America to preserve capitalism itself
" I am strongly of the view that we need to do a better job tempering the way capitalism is playing out in America if we want to preserve capitalism, which I think we want to do. "
" The whole damn point is to save America and our way of life, our economy and our politics, our democracy. We got to be there for all Americans, even the quote unquote losers. "

📚 6 more sections below

Sign up to unlock the complete summary with all insights, key points, and quotes

Listen on Apple Podcasts More Episodes from Freakonomics Radio