The time to test our response to AI's impact on work is before we need it
Articles
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We may not know exactly how AI will reshape work. But we can start building, testing, and measuring what we'll need for whatever comes next.
Building on Fathom’s July framework report, this piece argues that the debate over AI and work has moved toward consensus, and the next step is testing policy responses now. Institutions take years to build, and disruption may only become visible once policymakers have little time to react. Fathom points to two gaps. The first is measurement, since official labor statistics lag and the most useful data on AI use is held privately. The second is prototyping, since popular ideas like wage insurance and profit sharing have barely been piloted. To close them, Fathom recommends coalitions of places facing similar transitions that can learn from each other, and pilots that test system-level ideas alongside retraining.