At a moment of unprecedented technological evolution, we stand at the crossroads of digital transformation and human potential. NationSwell Summits’ thought-provoking panel, “Augment and Evolve: Empowering Workers in an AI-Driven World” — presented by Omidyar Network — explored just this. Featuring an all-women lineup, moderated by Michele Jawando, Omidyar Network, joined by Nicole Johnson, Cadence Design Systems, Molly Kinder, The Brookings Institution, Carri Twigg, Culture House Media, and Ambassador Katherine Tai, United States Trade Representative, the panel illuminated a critical pathway forward: focusing not just on how AI will shape the future, but how we in turn can shape the future of AI. 

As moderator and Senior Vice-President at the Omidyar Network, Michele Jawando pointed out, AI has dominated the public conversation since Chat GPT first launched, but that conversation has been baked in fear as much as possibility. The panel situated their conversation at the intersection between the two as they discussed who will be most impacted by this new technology and how we can ensure that we all have a voice in shaping its advancement. 

Here are some key takeaways from the discussion: 

Workers must play a role in the development and implementation of AI technology and policy.

Jawando first turned to Molly Kinder, David M. Rubenstein Fellow at The Brookings Institution, to lay the groundwork for the conversation with her research into the impact of AI on workers. 

“The reason this is capturing our anxiety and our imagination,” she said, “is that generative AI is upending a lot of experts’ advice about how to stay ahead of technology.” She went on to elaborate that in the past, that advice focused on developing expertise, creativity, and empathy. But AI is advancing so quickly that its ability to mimic those qualities is putting white collar workers and creative industries on the frontline of technological disruption. 

U.S. Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai also noted that we have seen disruption like this before, particularly in trade. We are still reaping the consequences of the development of globalization and free trade, which left workers behind as it reshaped the economy. 

“Trade and technology actually have very similar impacts on the economy and on the workforce,” she stated. “They both have displacing effects, and they both go to this capitalistic pursuit of efficiency and cost minimization.” 

But both Kinder and Tai reminded us that who gets to participate in conversations around AI is critical in ensuring that AI can be a force for good. And the NationSwell audience is uniquely suited to that goal. “You are the people who are focused on figuring out how that power is used, and how that power can be used for good,” Tai said, addressing the room. 

“A lever that this room in particular can be so impactful on,” Kinder said, “is at the workplace, and as employers… making sure that employees and workers have a real seat at the table.”

Women are on the frontline of AI as a disruptive technology. 

Kinder highlighted that her research also shows that women are more exposed to the impacts of generative AI, for two reasons. First, because the jobs most likely to face automation by this technology are predominantly held by women – clerical and customer service work, as well as positions like bank tellers and paralegals. And second, because women are underusing this technology compared to men. 

But fellow panelist Nicole Johnson, Global Director of Social Impact at Cadence Design Systems, is on the case. Johnson shared that at Cadence Design Systems, they’ve seen a 50% increase in women in technical positions over the last ten years and they are taking that playbook into the world with the launch of Fem.AI and a $20 million commitment to close the gender gap in AI. 

“We looked at this AI development, this AI economy, the AI revolution that’s happening and we looked at it as an opportunity space. How can we ensure that unlike the development of the internet that happened 30 plus years ago there’s intentionality about the workforce that is behind this technology?” she said. 

As creative industries face challenging shifts in technology and the attention economy, how can we protect art’s breadth as well as its depth? 

“[Artists] have the most to gain, and we have the most to lose,” said Carrie Twigg, Co-founder and Head of Development for Culture House media. “But that’s also true for audiences, and people who consume art.” 

Creatives, particularly in media, face significant pressure. Not only does AI already have a foothold in how we edit movies and TV, but consumers frequently split their attention between several screens at once. As Twigg noted, we’re always half looking at our phones, and that creates a downward pressure on creatives to make content that doesn’t require as much of our attention or discernment. And she added that while there has always and will always be high art, it’s that middle class of media, the shows that everyone watches but that don’t usually win awards that are most vulnerable. 

“That medium tier where people really spend their time has this awesome power to shape who we are and who we become and that is the most threatened by the AI landscape…and what we’re really going to miss if we don’t build in protections for it. It may not make immediate obvious economic sense but we have to think about it in a longer term way.” 

The panel provided critical insight on the challenges AI presents, and the importance of intentionality throughout the process of developing technology and integrating AI into our lives – not just in how we use it, but in who is in the room, and what we should preserve from AI’s influence. But how the panel channeled the theme of Hope in Action can best be summed up by Michele Jawando’s last words. She got into tech policy because of Star Trek and left us with the image of Captain Picard using technology to boldly go where no man has gone before to save civilizations all over the galaxy.

“Humans first, technology second,” she said. “Let’s do it together.”

For more moments from NationSwell Summit 2024, click here.