In the News: Manjeet Rege on AI and the Future of Work

Manjeet Rege, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas, co-authored an opinion piece in MinnPost examining the impact of artificial intelligence on Minnesota workers. Rege argued that policymakers should establish safeguards around workplace uses of AI, including hiring, monitoring, and job displacement, as the technology becomes increasingly integrated into the economy.

From the op-ed: Our research makes clear why that urgency is warranted. More than 800,000 Minnesotans, or nearly one-third of the state’s workforce, are in jobs where they are highly exposed to AI. That makes Minnesota’s workforce the most vulnerable in the Midwest and the tenth most vulnerable in the nation. Women and people in industries with lower union membership face disproportionately high exposure, leaving some of the most precarious workers with the fewest protections.

Job displacement is only part of the story, as AI reshapes work in ways that go far beyond whether someone keeps their position. Ask anyone who has recently applied for a job, and they can tell you about AI being used to screen their application, interview them and even decide if they get hired. Or ask someone who already has a job. They may tell you about AI tracking their keystrokes, analyzing their call times or setting their wages. These systems affect every Minnesota worker.

To be fair, the failure to provide new regulations does not fall equally on every member of the Legislature. Several lawmakers introduced bills this session aimed at addressing these very concerns. They deserve credit for their leadership, even if it was not rewarded with legislative victories.

What makes the legislature’s paralysis more damaging is a closing window. Last December, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to prevent states from regulating AI. Legal experts are skeptical this move will hold up, but the threat is real, and the clock is ticking. Where Minnesota remained passive, other states across the country, red and blue alike, surged ahead.

We have already seen what happens when the government waits for technology to police itself. For years, lawmakers watched social media platforms cause documented harm while debating whether and how to act. By the time serious regulation was on the table, the companies were too powerful and the damage too entrenched. AI is moving faster than social media ever did and can touch the lives of far more people. The same hesitation, applied here, will produce even worse results.