As artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the workplace, the Department of Labor (DOL) is prioritizing AI literacy to prepare workers for change while countering fears of widespread job loss, Deputy Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said Monday.
Speaking at the State of the Net conference in Washington, Sonderling said the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan and related executive orders are focused on equipping workers with foundational AI skills so they can thrive alongside the technology – and help employers deploy it effectively.
“The focus is on making sure that the American worker is prepared for this AI revolution that we’re going through and has the underlying … skills to be able to use these tools to be able to thrive in the workforce and have complete job satisfaction, while their employer can actually use these tools for the gain,” Sonderling said.
“So, we want it to be a win-win for all the different parties. And how do we do that? We have to start fresh. We have to start with AI literacy, and that’s what we’re really focused on,” he said.
Sonderling pushed back on what he described as “doom and gloom” narratives around AI-driven job losses, arguing that fear-based headlines discourage adoption and misrepresent how the technology is likely to affect jobs.
Rather than eliminating positions outright, Sonderling said AI is expected to change job descriptions and daily tasks. While jobs will change, he said, “that’s going to be a good thing,” and AI will reduce repetitive work while augmenting human labor.
“To the extent there is job displacement, that’s back on the Department of Labor, and that’s why we’re being so aggressive in ensuring that that baseline AI literacy is out there,” Sonderling said, adding, “Not just for the next generation of workers, but for the current generation of workers.”
“We’re really starting to tie some of our federal apprenticeship spending and other spending that the Department of Labor does through our state workforce agencies, and even discretionary grants, and saying, ‘What is the AI literacy piece to this grant?’” he said. “The Department of Labor is going to be asking in this training, ‘How are you looking to where AI is going to change a specific industry, and how are you going to actually start that training now?’”
Sonderling also highlighted expanded coordination with the Department of Education to introduce AI literacy earlier in the education pipeline. Through partnerships with employers, unions, and educators, DOL is working to forecast workforce needs and align K-12, community college, and adult training programs accordingly.
A central goal of AI literacy, Sonderling said, is reducing fear in the workplace by demystifying AI.
“So much of the fear in the workplace around AI is what? AI is going to take my job. This is going to be my AI robot replacement, right? And you wouldn’t feel that way if you understood the basics of the technology. You wouldn’t feel that way if you had these baseline AI skills,” he said.