As companies deploy AI to streamline operations, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich warns that “thinking” professions—law, medicine, accounting and software engineering—face the greatest disruption, while “caring” roles reliant on human empathy will prove more resilient. In a PBS NewsHour interview, Reich argued that adaptability and versatility, not traditional credentialing, will be the decisive assets for new entrants to the labor market. He also floated universal basic income as a policy backstop as wage growth lags in care-oriented jobs that AI can’t easily replace. The near-term fallout, he said, is already visible in parts of tech, underscoring the need for education systems to pivot toward critical thinking and people-centered skills.
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