AI is more than a tool for modernizing government services. It's a disruptive force that changes society's needs, compelling government to ask if its existing programs are even the right ones. For instance, is unemployment insurance the correct response to permanent, AI-driven job displacement?

The rapid displacement of jobs by AI will cause suffering beyond finances. It will trigger a profound crisis of meaning and identity for millions whose sense of self is tied to their profession, creating emotional distress and potential societal unrest.

As AI automates tasks, it erodes the implicit deal where society provides education and people work hard in exchange for stability and opportunity. This raises profound questions about fairness, retraining responsibilities, and whether a job should remain the primary source of security and status.

Like the Industrial Revolution, AI will ultimately be a net creator of jobs by enabling new business models. The critical societal risk is the interim period where job losses are immediate, but the creation of new industries lags, potentially leading to social unrest and political backlash.

For current AI valuations to be realized, AI must deliver unprecedented efficiency, likely causing mass job displacement. This would disrupt the consumer economy that supports these companies, creating a fundamental contradiction where the condition for success undermines the system itself.

Tech leaders cite Jevon's Paradox, suggesting AI efficiency will create more jobs. However, this historical model may not hold, as the speed of AI disruption outpaces society's ability to adapt, and demand for knowledge work isn't infinitely elastic.

When tech leaders like Jack Dorsey cite AI for layoffs, it may obscure a deeper motive: a relentless race for market dominance where societal impacts like job displacement and reskilling are deprioritized. The focus is on winning, with worker welfare often becoming collateral damage.

Unlike gradual agricultural or industrial shifts, AI is displacing blue and white-collar jobs globally and simultaneously. This rapid, compressed timeframe leaves little room for adaptation, making societal unrest and violence highly probable without proactive planning.

The belief that Luddites were simply anti-progress is a historical misreading. Technology created long-term societal wealth but caused immediate, unrecoverable job loss for them. AI will accelerate this dynamic, creating widespread disruption faster than workers can adapt.