Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, corrected critics who say artificial intelligence will create mass unemployment, praising the company for enabling companies to hire “more” on “the bottom line.”
Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, told FOX Business. artificial intelligence (AI) is driving a blue-collar productivity boom, not mass unemployment as predicted by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont). Sankar said AI is accelerating jobs, training and the growth of U.S. industry.
Sankar was a guest on “The Bottom Line” on Wednesday, highlighting the underreported reality that AI’s biggest gains are not just among software developers, but also front-line workers like ICU nurses and factory technicians.
His interview came a day after Sanders posted a video on X calling for a slowdown in AI development and warning about the possibility of mass unemployment.
In the video, Sanders questioned how people would survive without income, as AI and robotics could eliminate “millions of jobs” and create “massive unemployment.”
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“We need every employee involved in determining the future of AI, not just a few billionaires,” he said. “That’s why I’m first pushing for a moratorium on data center construction that advances unregulated efforts to develop and deploy AI. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up.”
Sankar disputed these claims, saying that what’s really underreported is how AI is a blue-collar revolution.
He told hosts Dagen McDowell and Brian Bremberg that ICU nurses and factory workers stand to benefit even more from AI, noting that foremen on manufacturing lines can spend more time assembling parts than planning production and labor schedules. new technology.
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Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer, dismissed concerns about job losses, saying AI is driving blue-collar growth, faster training and new jobs in the U.S. even as Sanders urges a slowdown in development. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Nurses also benefit by spending less time gathering information about patients, allowing them to spend more time with patients and provide life-saving care where every minute counts.
“We have a manufacturing customer, and they were able to streamline their production planning with AI, which allowed them to add a third shift,” Sankar said. “There is no benefit to hiring more American workers unless we reach a certain level of labor utilization, which creates more jobs.”
Another example he cited is Reno, Nevada-based Panasonic Energy, which makes electric vehicle batteries.
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A woman walks under the Palantir sign at the Palantir stand before the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos on May 22, 2022. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The apprenticeship to become a skilled battery technician for equipment manufactured by Panasonic Energy typically takes approximately three years. By leveraging AI, the company was able to hire former casino employees in three months.
He also said AI will have a “dramatic impact” on the efforts of companies like Panasonic Energy. Hiring, training, and deploying Early talent.
“This is a complete propaganda line coming out of Silicon Valley, where they want to talk about how powerful technology is: ‘It’s so powerful that it can cause mass unemployment. It’s so powerful that it can destroy humanity,'” Sankar said.
“And that’s frankly not true. That’s not what you’re seeing on the front lines. What you’re seeing is an opportunity for American greatness.”
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Artificial intelligence images are displayed on the computer screen. (license/image)
As AI becomes readily available to people, this technology could lead to explosive growth in new businesses. Someone will come up with an idea and AI will let them execute it.
But it also leads to the question of whether college is necessary for the workforce.
Sankar said he believes universities need to reinvent themselves. He said Palantir has started a meritocracy fellowship for high school seniors to teach them technical skills for the job.
Palantir brings in professors on nights and weekends to provide what Sankar calls a “well-rounded” education.
“I think the university needs to seriously rethink this,” he said.
Sankar’s view that education must adapt to new demands bleed into a broader argument that the United States is making the same mistake with its AI strategy, pouring billions of dollars into data centers while ignoring the aspects that create real economic value.
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“Well, I think so. president “We’re on the right track when it comes to launching projects like the Genesis mission. We’ve invested a huge amount of capital into what I call the AI supply side, building data centers and models,” he said.
“We need to invest more in the demand side of AI,” Sankar continued. “How do we drive economic value from these models? What outcomes do these models have for the average American worker? And that’s what we’re relentlessly focused on at Palantir.”
