Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar told FOX Business artificial intelligence (AI) is fueling a blue-collar productivity boom, not mass unemployment as forecast by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. Sankar said AI is accelerating hiring, training and American industrial growth.
Sankar was a guest on “The Bottom Line” Wednesday, where he stressed the underreported reality that AI’s biggest gains are showing up not just among software developers but also among front-line workers like ICU nurses and factory technicians.
His interview came a day after Sanders called for a slowdown in AI development and raised an alarm about potential mass unemployment in a video posted on X.
In the video, Sanders questioned how people will survive if they do not have any income because AI and robotics may create “massive unemployment” by eliminating “millions of jobs.”
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“We need all of our people, all of the people involved in determining the future of AI, and not just a handful of multi-billionaires,” he said. “That is why, for a start, I will be pushing for a moratorium on the construction of data centers that are powering this unregulated sprint to develop and deploy AI. This moratorium will give democracy a chance to catch up.”
Sankar rebutted those claims, saying the story that is really underreported is how AI is a blue-collar revolution.
He told hosts Dagen McDowell and Brian Brenberg that ICU nurses and factory workers are benefiting even more from AI, noting the foreman on the manufacturing line can spend more time building parts than on production planning and labor scheduling because of the new technology.
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Nurses also benefit because they can spend more time with their patients and delivering life-saving care where minutes matter and less time collecting information on a patient.
“We have a manufacturing customer that, because they were able to streamline their production planning with AI, they were able to add a third shift,” Sankar said. “Without that labor utilization being at a certain rate, it wasn’t profitable to hire more American workers. With it, more jobs are created.”
Another example he gave was Panasonic Energy, a Reno, Nevada-based company that builds electric vehicle batteries.
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An apprenticeship to become a skilled battery technician for the equipment Panasonic Energy makes normally takes about three years. With AI, the company has been able to take former casino workers and employ them in three months.
He also said AI will have a “dramatic effect” on how companies like Panasonic Energy hire, train and deploy early talent.
“It’s a complete propaganda schtick coming out of Silicon Valley, where they want to talk about how powerful the tech is: ‘It’s so powerful it might lead to mass unemployment. So powerful it may end humanity,’” Sankar said.
“And that’s just frankly not true. It’s not what you see at the front lines. What you see is an opportunity for American greatness.”
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With AI at people’s fingertips, the technology could lead to an explosion of new businesses. Someone could have an idea, and AI will allow that person to execute it.
But that also leads to questions about whether college will be necessary for the workforce.
Sankar said he thinks colleges will have to reinvent themselves. At Palantir, he said, a meritocracy fellowship was started for high school seniors that teaches them technical skills on the job.
On nights and weekends, Palantir brings in professors to provide what Sankar said is a “well-rounded” education.
“I think colleges are going to have to really rethink this,” he said.
Sankar’s view that education must adapt to new demands flowed into a broader point that the U.S. is making the same mistake in its AI strategy by pouring billions into data centers while neglecting the side that creates real economic value.
“Well, I think the president has the right direction with the launch of projects like the Genesis mission,” he said. “We have invested a huge amount of capital in what I call the AI supply side, building the data centers and the models.
“We need to invest more in the AI demand side,” Sankar continued. “How do we drive economic value from these models? How do these models result in prosperity for the average American worker? And that’s what we’re tirelessly focused on at Palantir.”
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