One signal

AI may affect workers’ pay before it shows up in mass redundancies, argues Gizmodo in a critique of a New York Times article on jobs. The piece cites a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston study finding that workers who feared losing their jobs to AI were less likely to feel they could negotiate higher wages.

That is a claim about bargaining power, not proof that AI has caused wages to fall. Still, it puts a less headline-friendly question on the table: can the threat of automation change what workers feel able to ask for, even when they keep their jobs?

Discuss: If fear of AI job loss weakens workers’ bargaining power, what evidence would show that effect is happening rather than reflecting wider economic pressures?

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