{"id":26313,"date":"2026-06-24T20:10:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/24\/artificial-intelligence-promises-to-make-our-work-easier-but-what-if-ai-doesnt-need-us-at-all-the-source-bend-oregon\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T20:10:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T20:10:57","slug":"artificial-intelligence-promises-to-make-our-work-easier-but-what-if-ai-doesnt-need-us-at-all-the-source-bend-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/24\/artificial-intelligence-promises-to-make-our-work-easier-but-what-if-ai-doesnt-need-us-at-all-the-source-bend-oregon\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial Intelligence Promises to Make Our Work Easier \u2014 But What If AI Doesn\u2019t Need Us at All? – The Source – Bend, Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Source – Bend, Oregon<\/a>
\t\t\t\t\tBend's Daily Independent Voice\t\t\t\t
As some recent university graduates expressed with loud boos during the commencement speeches of pro-AI speakers, artificial intelligence is cause for concern, not excitement, as they enter an increasingly automated workforce. 
For starters, studies<\/a> have shown that AI has already \u2014 or stands to \u2014 replace millions of entry-level and mid-level positions throughout myriad industries. Think computer programmers, commercial jingle writers and \u2014 gulp \u2014<\/em> some types of journalists. If the bottom few rungs of the workforce ladder have been stripped away for cost-cutting measures, skeptics might wonder: How will the next generation of the workforce not only rise up, but who will steer these industries when the executive class joins the Club Med in the sky? 
I\u2019m middle-aged but I\u2019m with the grads. 
Hoping to have my concerns massaged, I spoke with Kevin Goldberg, the founder and CEO of iS2 Digital, a business technology firm. He recently launched the AI Fireside Chat speaker series in Bend. Asked to describe the AI landscape in five to 10 years, as he envisions it, Goldberg says it will be much more common to find people who\u2019ve fully automated their daily tasks to AI agents.  
\u201cI can imagine a future where AI is supportive, we\u2019re living in a renaissance of humanity, because a lot of the mundanity has been taken away and we have more freedom,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cThat is obviously the hope I have for AI in the future.\u201d 
I mentioned that with so many services being replaced by AI, the future might need a dose of socialism so people can keep roofs overhead. 
\u201cThere\u2019s some reality there,\u201d Goldberg said. \u201cIf there are no jobs to be had, then we need some sort of different economic setup, for sure. We can\u2019t have 10 people owning all the jobs and the money.\u201d 
\u201cWe\u2019re going to need governance; we\u2019re going to need thoughtful people who are leading the charge,\u201d Goldberg added. 
Beyond that, Goldberg said he doesn\u2019t like to get too political when talking about AI. 
I still wondered: What must citizens and lawmakers do to safeguard workers\u2019 places at the table when AI is maximizing, if not entirely cannibalizing, our output? 
I came across the excellent analysis in The Guardian: \u201cIf AI Makes Human Labor Obsolete, Who Decided Who Gets to Eat?\u201d<\/a> Writer Eduardo Porter hits all the notes: 
\u201cHow will we be fed?\u201d Porter offers as a salvo. \u201cThat\u2019s the biggest question not seriously being addressed amid all this talk about whether or not artificial intelligence will end up taking over all of our jobs.\u201d 
That people in high places are sounding the alarm bells is, somehow, more worrying. 
\u201cWe need guardrails that preserve human agency, human oversight and human accountability,\u201d says Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, the United Nations secretary general. He was speaking at the AI Impact Summit in February. \u201cThe future of AI cannot be decided by a handful of countries or left to the whims of a few billionaires.\u201d 
In his analysis, Porter writes that one of the biggest challenges is not just in making AI do precisely what its humans want it to do, but to align the goals of AI systems and their owners with the broader goals of society. 
One way to tether society\u2019s fortunes to that of the AI industry, Porter continues, is for government to, \u201cdirectly distribute the equity of AI ventures. Taxes might be collected in shares rather than cash to amass a public stake over time. 
\u201cRather than tax the returns on AI investments,\u201d he writes, \u201ca more radical proposal would be for the government to expropriate a chunk of equity upfront to redistribute among the population and directly grant Americans a share in AI\u2019s promised cornucopia.\u201d 
Doing so with legislation, the author notes, may be easier said than done. 
Another piece by The Guardian<\/a> details how tectonic tech companies like Meta and Google have been pouring millions of dollars into the November election in California, for example. David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political science professor who studies state lobbying, told The Guardian that the tech companies and billionaire class are using a multi-pronged approach. They\u2019re giving cash to campaigns big and small, from tech-friendly gubernatorial candidates to those running for city councils and even school boards. 
\u201cIf you\u2019re an uber-zillionaire, you give money early and often,\u201d McCuan told The Guardian. \u201cThey have more wealth and resources than they\u2019ve ever had before, so that allows them to play on both sides of the aisle and up and down the ballot and across issues like never before.\u201d 
Sigh.<\/em> 
I don\u2019t have the answers. Aside from outsourcing the transcription of phone interviews, for example, I don\u2019t use it. AI art sucks. AI music sucks. I\u2019m often fooled by AI-enhanced pet videos on Instagram. The hit of dopamine is replaced by a sinking feeling that I\u2019ve fallen, once again, for a cynical bait-and-switch. 
Yet, I\u00a0find\u00a0solace in a morbid place. Easing into midlife,\u00a0I\u00a0realize\u00a0that\u00a0each\u00a0additional\u00a0day I\u00a0live\u00a0is one day\u00a0less\u00a0I\u00a0have to\u00a0worry about AI.
This article appears in the Source June 25, 2026<\/a>.
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