INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Brown administration officials and business leaders said Tuesday that early adoption of AI will give Indiana businesses a competitive edge.
Gov. Mike Brown announced the state is launching a new initiative called “IN AI.” The program is designed to accelerate AI adoption by Indiana businesses, with priority given to small and medium-sized businesses. He said the program will emphasize a “human-centered” AI approach. The state has already launched a website with training modules and a guide to AI best practices. A roadshow of AI workshops is planned for this summer, along with virtual training seminars.
“We want to help workers and businesses take advantage of these benefits, and we’re doing it in a way that puts people first,” Brown said. “This program will help companies implement AI in a practical way.”
Brown said subsidies for AI implementation are also possible, but that depends on the state’s fiscal situation. He said such grants would most likely go through the existing READI program.
Two business leaders who attended the governor’s announcement both run manufacturing companies and said they were already using AI in their companies. Chad Harter, CEO of Jasper Group, said the company has begun using an AI program to extract and record information about parts of the commercial furniture and other products it makes. He said he estimates this has saved employees five months’ worth of work.
Joe Hindman, owner of Hindman Industrial Products, said he uses it for market research and inventory management. He said the key to successfully leveraging AI is to first think carefully about where it makes the most sense for a particular company to deploy AI.
“For traditional industry owners, start by mapping your workflow, building a solution based on your business, and then running with it,” Hindman said.
AI has been cited in some of the most recent high-profile layoffs. Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced it would lay off 8,000 people, or about 10% of its workforce, and eliminate another 6,000 open positions. Microsoft plans to offer buyouts to 8,750 employees (7% of payroll). Both points to the promotion of automation through the use of AI.
So far, research on the overall impact of artificial intelligence on employment is mixed. On Friday, Goldman Sachs released new analysis estimating that AI has increased the unemployment rate by 0.1% over the past year. Knowledge occupations such as writers, computer programmers, and statisticians are most at risk of losing their jobs to AI, according to an ongoing analysis by Tufts University. Jobs such as construction, manufacturing, and healthcare are much lower risk. A Tufts analysis estimates that approximately 61,000 jobs could be eliminated in the Indianapolis metropolitan area due to AI.
In Tuesday’s announcement, Brown and others drew parallels between AI and the introduction of computers in the 1980s and the Internet in the 1990s. A Yale University study published last October compared the rate at which workers reported starting a new occupation with similar data in the months and years after the emergence of these two early technologies. The researchers found that the composition of occupations is changing slightly faster now than in the early days of the Internet and computers, but the change is not statistically significant.
Indiana unions are sounding the alarm. Indiana AFL-CIO President Brett Voorhees said AI should be approached in a way that minimizes job losses.
“Despite the potential benefits that AI can offer, there are also real risks facing Hoosiers in this operation. The decisions and considerations we make now will shape our economy for decades to come. Working people in Indiana deserve a seat at the table here, and we demand common sense guardrails for AI. The explosion of AI across the economy has enriched tech billionaires while potentially eliminating jobs. “The fundamental principles of any AI policy in Indiana must be to protect workers. AI is a top issue for voters across the political spectrum, and politicians would be wise to adopt a fully worker-first approach to policies with such large economic implications.”
Brett Voorhies
Indiana AFL-CIO President
