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Witnesses call for reskilling, AI literacy and consumer safeguards as automation accelerates
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Summary
At a House Oversight subcommittee hearing, witnesses and members urged stronger investment in AI literacy, apprenticeships and worker retraining while warning of bias, fraud and deep‑fake harms that disproportionately affect vulnerable communities.
Members of the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee pressed experts on workforce displacement, equity and consumer harms tied to rapid AI adoption and urged federal steps to protect workers and consumers.
Ranking Member Brown opened by stressing the immediate impact of AI on jobs, particularly Black workers concentrated in occupations at higher risk of automation. “If we fail to provide retraining, education, and pathways into the jobs of the future, we risk leaving entire communities behind,” Brown said.
Dr. Nicole Turner Lee, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, urged Congress to pair workforce investments with consumer protections. She warned of targeted fraud and deep‑fake scams that have already victimized older Americans: “Our nation's seniors are increasingly being targeted, in some cases falling for financial AI voice cloning and deep fake scams,” Turner Lee testified, and she recommended human oversight, disclosures and independent audits for high‑risk automated decisions. Turner Lee also cited workforce statistics during her testimony, noting that “77% of the top AI companies were founded or cofounded by first generation immigrants” and that one report shows “92% of companies have plans to increase their investment in the technology.”
Industry witness Kinsey Fabrizio said companies and trade shows such as CES are already offering AI training and that apprenticeships and reskilling programs will be important. “While the workforce will shift, workers will be given new tools if they use AI properly,” Fabrizio said, advocating for continued investment in STEM and employer‑led training.
Members pressed witnesses on specific federal steps. Proposals discussed included expanding apprenticeships, focusing on on‑the‑job training rather than entirely new federal retraining programs, and improving K‑20 AI literacy so students and workers understand how to use AI tools. Several witnesses cautioned that many existing federally run retraining programs have mixed results and urged greater reliance on employer partnerships and apprenticeships.
The committee did not adopt new policy at the hearing. Members asked witnesses for more data on job losses and on how to design effective, targeted training programs for workers whose roles may be automated.
Why this matters: Testimony highlighted broad agreement that AI will change many jobs and that targeted policy — training, apprenticeships, equitable education and consumer safeguards — will be necessary to manage transition risks for workers and vulnerable populations.
