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Panelists urge workforce training and careful policy as AI reshapes tech jobs
Summary
At the forum panelists said AI is already changing demand for coders and data-heavy roles, urged investment in workforce retraining, discussed human accountability for AI outputs, and warned of layoffs at major tech firms moving capital out of state.
Audience members asked how state policymakers plan to respond to AI-driven job disruption, and panelists offered divergent but complementary views emphasizing workforce training, human accountability and measured policy.
Rep. Elizabeth New said employers and workforce-development programs must prepare workers to use AI effectively and urged targeted guardrails that do not stifle innovation. Rep. Monica Stonier said Washington needs a consensus on how much human oversight should be required for AI-driven decisions and insisted licensed professionals remain responsible for work issued under their names.
Rep. April Berg said the state must invest in education and workforce skills beyond coding — more emphasis on critical thinking and human judgment — and that premature regulation could have unintended consequences. Mark Armstrong warned that layoffs at big tech tied to AI are already prompting capital and workers to leave the state and called for strategies to replace lost jobs and wages.
Panelists did not propose specific state legislation at the event, but urged workforce investments, data-privacy attention and multi-stakeholder policy development to manage AI’s economic impacts.
