Elaine Chao’s got a lot to say…about AI

On June 9 we heard from former Labor Secretary (and more recently, former transportation secretary) Elaine Chao—not about her ailing husband, the former Senate majority leader and senior senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, but instead about the hottest topic in global business: AI.

Chao joined a policy discussion Thursday morning hosted by global payroll and HR platform Deel along with wonks from across the pond: Irish MEP Michael McNamara and Max Uebe, a deputy for the VP of the European Commission. The group explored policy priorities and workforce implications as the role AI plays in the world of work rapidly expands.

“With every technological change and every trend or phenomenon, there is always bound to be a lot of attention, and also anxiety,” Chao said on the policy panel just days after returning home from a weeks-long trip to China on Tuesday.

Chao drew some scrutiny in recent weeks after it was discovered she’d been absent amid the early days of McConnell’s hospitalization. (The 84-year-old has been in the hospital since June 14, marking his health condition as a serious concern ahead of this year’s midterms.) Through a spokesperson, Chao said McConnell’s health “did not warrant an immediate return.”

That scrutiny didn’t stop her from seizing the discussion on AI this week, articulating the responsibilities of both the private and public sectors to protect working people across the globe displaced by this rapidly emerging tech.

Chao said the pace of change related to the AI transformation is unlike what workers and business leaders experienced amid other technological changes. Other changes to the workforce and the workplace have occurred over time, jumping from sector to sector, spreading gradually, but the AI transformation, she said, is impacting everyone on all fronts at the same time.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that AI is going to displace people, and I think the government, society, and businesses have a responsibility to ease the transition for those who are unable to catch on to the next rung,” she said. “We have to retrain. The government has to do that. Companies have to do that. But there’s no doubt there will be displacement. So how do we take care of those who will be displaced?”

Chao didn’t export a specific policy prescription to address needs of those displaced by the technology, but she did caution against one particular idea: universal basic income (UBI). Chao said more policy work is needed to figure out how to address the missing “purpose” in our lives as AI gobbles up pre-AI era roles better suited for technology, but a basic income check from Uncle Sam, she contended, won’t replace all of what AI took from us.

“I’m really concerned about this universal income support,” she said. “I want people to be able to have the resources to live a good life, but work is not just money. Work is purpose, and people need purpose in their lives.”

Chao added that any policy priorities American businesses, workers, and HR leaders might expect from the US government will look different than those explored by our European counterparts, noting that the legislative and policy priorities of the American government and Trump administration are much more focused on innovation and flexibility, while those across the pond on security.

“The American government is very different, and the way they enact regulations will be very different from Europe. Europe and America have very different historical backgrounds and their proclivity for risk,” she said. “America generally focuses more on flexibility: flexibility of the workforce, the ability of workers to switch job-to-job, whereas Europe is much more concerned about security.”

Chao said it’s both the role of government and the private sector to train, upskill, and invest in the workforce of the future (not just the technology or infrastructure) in order to navigate the anxiety and fear facing many American workers amid the transition.