In a recent chat with Fortune Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell, billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla delivered a concerning message: by 2030, 80% of jobs will be able to be performed by AI, leading to possible job losses. He believes this issue will heavily influence politics in the coming years.
“There will be massive job dislocation” with AI, Khosla mentioned during a panel at the Hill & Valley Forum, which gathered policymakers from Washington and executives from Silicon Valley on Tuesday. He added that people need to recognize the advantages of the technology before any significant disruption happens. “Will there be new kinds of jobs? Maybe, maybe not. I don’t know. There’s very few things AI won’t be able to do today in next few years. So I do think we ought to structurally solve this problem by increasing the minimum level of services.”
However, instead of focusing on AI’s potential upsides, Khosla-who co-founded Sun Microsystems and runs Khosla Ventures and has a net worth of $11.5 billion-stated that Americans are preoccupied with uncertainty caused by AI.
“The single biggest issue I believe in the 2028 presidential election will be fear of AI,” Khosla said.
Khosla has been a strong supporter of adopting AI while trying to lessen its economic impacts on everyday people. His remarks at the forum during a panel called “Mind and Machine: The Forces Shaping the AI Era” regarding government involvement in AI adoption aren’t new for him; he’s been saying that AI is likely to become one of the country’s most divisive topics moving forward.
“I think the single biggest danger to AI is not AI capability or lack thereof. The single biggest danger to AI adoption is politics,” Khosla noted. He highlighted ongoing political actions at state levels, such as a bill in New York State aiming to prohibit AIs from providing medical or legal advice.
Florida recently enacted legislation requiring data center companies to cover their own utility costs, while New York lawmakers are contemplating a bill that would halt new data center permits. This comes as Americans face an increasing affordability crisis due largely to soaring energy expenses, an issue expected to hurt Republicans ahead of upcoming midterm elections.
Khosla argued that rather than fearing AI, Americans should consider all the amazing things it can achieve.
“The US could develop a free doctor and offer it to everybody on the planet,” he said. “That’s a project doable in the next two or three years and have more expertise than any doctor.” He referred to a recent Nature Medicine study indicating that AIs outperformed human therapists when assessed blindly by other therapists.
Khosla also suggested voters should explore tax benefits related to AI advancements for their finances. He reiterated his proposal for overhauling tax laws so that individuals earning less than $100,000 annually wouldn’t pay income tax starting in 2030.
“AI will favor capital over labor in the historical capital versus labor battle; therefore there’s no reason in the age of AI for capital gains taxes to differ from ordinary income taxes,” he explained. “If we equalize those two, we can maintain tax neutrality and remove 125 million people from paying taxes-anyone making $100,000 or less doesn’t owe any taxes.” That sounds like fair balance since 40% of capital gains tax is paid by those making over $10 million yearly.
Sitting alongside him was Sen. Maria Cantwell from Washington who hesitated at Khosla’s idea about changing tax codes but acknowledged Congress tends towards more immediate concerns. She pointed out initiatives like the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act committing nearly $53 billion towards boosting domestic semiconductor production as examples where they have focused action instead.
Cantwell agreed with Khosla about needing more accessible tools utilizing advanced health information for everyday Americans right now.
“Why aren’t we just giving tools that use sophisticated health information and empowering the public with that health information?” she queried. “I think that would go a long way towards helping people understand how powerful what we’re pushing toward is,” she added while emphasizing privacy protections must also be considered. When moderator Delian Asparouhov, CEO of Varda Space Industries asked how America could lead in managing AI adoption effectively Cantwell shared her support for forming something akin to a “tech NATO.” “The United States should bring together major democracies along with significant tech countries so we can standardize principles we agree upon for technology adoption,” Cantwell stated firmly.
“We should essentially declare nations employing back doors or other methods shouldn’t sell us technology because you already know what you’re going into.”
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“Why aren’t we just giving tools that use sophisticated health information and empowering the public with that health information?” she queried. “I think that would go a long way towards helping people understand how powerful what we’re pushing toward is,” she added while emphasizing privacy protections must also be considered. When moderator Delian Asparouhov, CEO of Varda Space Industries asked how America could lead in managing AI adoption effectively Cantwell shared her support for forming something akin to a “tech NATO.” “The United States should bring together major democracies along with significant tech countries so we can standardize principles we agree upon for technology adoption,” Cantwell stated firmly.
“We should essentially declare nations employing back doors or other methods shouldn’t sell us technology because you already know what you’re going into.”
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