Technology exec says AI fuels blue-collar productivity boom, not job losses
Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar corrects critics who say artificial intelligence will create massive unemployment, lauding his company for allowing companies to hire ‘more’ on ‘The Bottom Line.’
Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar told FOX Business artificial intelligence (AI) is fueling a blue-collar productivity boom, not mass unemployment as forecast by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Sankar said AI is accelerating hiring, training and American industrial growth.
Sankar was a guest on “The Bottom Line” Wednesday, where he stressed the underreported reality that AI’s biggest gains are showing up not just among software developers but also among front-line workers like ICU nurses and factory technicians.
His interview came a day after Sanders called for a slowdown in AI development and raised an alarm about potential mass unemployment in a video posted on X.
In the video, Sanders questioned how people will survive if they do not have any income because AI and robotics may create “massive unemployment” by eliminating “millions of jobs.”
“We need all of our people, all of the people involved in determining the future of AI, and not just a handful of multi-billionaires,” he said. “That is why, for a start, I will be pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers that are powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up.”
Sankar rebutted those claims, saying the story that is really underreported is how AI is a blue-collar revolution.
He told hosts Dagen McDowell and Brian Brenberg that ICU nurses and factory workers are benefiting even more from AI, noting the foreman on the manufacturing line can spend more time building parts than on production planning and labor scheduling because of the new technology.
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Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar rejects unemployment fears, saying AI is fueling blue-collar growth, faster training and new U.S. jobs as Sanders urges a development slowdown. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nurses also benefit because they can spend more time with their patients and delivering life-saving care where minutes matter and less time collecting information on a patient.
“We have a manufacturing customer that, because they were able to streamline their production planning with AI, they were able to add a third shift,” Sankar said. “Without that labor utilization being at a certain rate, it wasn’t profitable to hire more American workers. With it, more jobs are created.”
Another example he gave was Panasonic Energy, a Reno, Nevada-based company that builds electric vehicle batteries.
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