Industries of Ideas: Preparing People & Policy (...) | Jason Owen-Smith | 2025

Data and AI in Society Lecture Series

Speaker: Jason Owen-Smith, Professor of Sociology, Professor of Organizational Studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Associate Vice President for Research – Institutional Capabilities and Research Intelligence, Office of the Vice President for Research, Research Professor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research and Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R Ford School of Public Policy

Generative AI burst into the public consciousness with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT at the end of 2022. In the two and a half years that followed, we have seen the capabilities of foundation models like ChatGPT grow at a breathtaking rate, but our understanding of AI’s implications for the economy and work has not kept pace. Public impact predictions have ranged from species extinction to utopia, while even the most sober and technical economic forecasts have varied by amounts nearly twice the size of Germany’s economy.

As a result, state and federal policymakers, business and innovation leaders, higher education institutions, and everyday students, families and workers face great uncertainty as they try to decide how to react to and prepare for the effects AI may have on business, careers, jobs, education, innovation, and the prosperity and security of the United States. Much of this uncertainty stems from the lack of trustworthy, timely, local, and actionable data about where the technology is headed, how its capabilities may shape the workplaces of the future, and what we can do to prepare.

This talk surveys some of the key issues for understanding AI effects on our jobs and the economy. It walks through initial findings the Industries of Ideas (IofI) project, a new effort that brings together universities, federal and state agencies, business and economic development leaders, and education and training providers to better understand how this new technology is shaping jobs and the skills needed to position the nation, specific regions, employers, and individuals to thrive in an AI-driven economy.

For more information on the Data & AI in Society Lecture series, please visit: https://myumi.ch/pVDQq

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