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Dear John,
Like many of you, I’ve been grappling with questions about artificial intelligence. How will it change the lives of New Yorkers? What affect will it have on economy and the workforce? Is our budget prepared? Will we see productivity expand or wide-scale unemployment? Questions like these can leave you with a sense of foreboding and helplessness as the AI juggernaut gains speed.
But we are not helpless. And this is not New York City’s first encounter with transformative technological change. Time and again we have shown that we have the power to shape such change with democratic values and public purpose.
It is nearly impossible to predict exactly what AI will do to our economy, or to fully grasp both the extraordinary opportunities and significant risks this rapidly advancing technology presents. But that uncertainty is no excuse to not prepare.
Today, my office released a new report [[link removed]] offering the first local assessment of how AI could impact jobs, wages, tax revenue, and key industries in New York City.
The report maps a range of five scenarios that illustrate the economically transformative potential of AI’s adoption, from an AI-empowered economy (35% probability) that would boost productivity with limited economic disruption to an AI shockwave (5%), which would result in rapid AI disruption and captures more adverse negative impacts on white-collar jobs.
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The range of possible outcomes underscores the need for New York City to strengthen its reserves and develop contingency plans to prepare for potential disruptions to the job market and revenue losses.
This is not fearmongering – this is about readiness and resilience. New York City should position itself not only to lead in the age of AI, but also to absorb the disruptions that may accompany this technological transformation, ensuring it has the fiscal capacity to protect core services and respond to the evolving needs of New Yorkers.
If predicting the impact of transformative AI is hard, designing the policies needed to respond is harder still. But AI is already having an impact on our economy, and we cannot afford to sleepwalk into this new age. We must begin the work now.
My hope is that this report [[link removed]] sparks a serious citywide conversation about what the arrival of transformative AI will mean for New York, and what we should do about it. These are not questions we can leave to Silicon Valley, Washington, or the market alone. We must help shape the future ourselves.
There is no city in America, and perhaps none on earth, more exposed to both the promise and peril of artificial intelligence than New York City. We will need the full measure of this city’s creativity, urgency, toughness, and democratic spirit. Let’s meet this moment head-on, in the way only New Yorkers can.
Sincerely,
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Mark D. Levine
New York City Comptroller
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Office of the New York City Comptroller
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