Sen. Warner seeks national edge on AI, while preparing for potential workforce disruptions

By Dan Egitto

In ARL Now

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) hopes to maintain national competitiveness on AI while preparing the U.S. economy for potentially massive disruptions brought on by new technology.

Speaking yesterday (Monday) at the grand opening of a new Ballston office for the cybersecurity company KnowBe4, which focuses on human and AI risk management, the senator emphasized the need to prepare for sweeping technological changes and their impacts on society.

In the near term, Warner cautioned that artificial intelligence could bring strife to early-career professionals in particular, even as it unlocks new opportunities and helps maintain a national edge against China.

“While I believe that AI is going to bring enormous positive benefits to society over the next decade, I think in the short run — next two to five to seven years — it is going to bring economic disruption unlike anything we’ve seen,” Warner said.

Calling AI “enormously complicated and enormously transformative,” Warner forecasted a surge in unemployment among recent college graduates as advancements make many entry-level jobs obsolete. This concerns the lawmaker, especially since he said major industry leaders haven’t presented a clear picture of how to resolve the fallout of the technology they’re developing.

“You press them on what you should actually be trained to do — they don’t really know either,” he said.

Warner said he wants to push the AI industry to help design and fund a “transition program,” potentially assisting college students or recent graduates in rapidly changing their career trajectories.

“We’re going to have to really kind of stretch our brains, in terms of how we make sure that this positive transformation that’s going to be brought about by AI is also still inclusive,” the senator said. “Because if not, you’ve got populists on the left and the right that will come and shut down that innovation.”

Warner is particularly concerned about ceding the AI race to China — which he characterized as having an “authoritarian approach” to the technology and looser ethical standards, in addition to a history of cyberattacks against the United States. He said that a measured strategy, where lawmakers are “not trying to limit innovation but also recognizing that some guardrails make sense,” will give the United States an upper hand without turning public opinion against advancements.

“If we screw this up, we could end up having such a backlash against this technology that … we’re going to walk away from it and lose the advantage we have now on China, who’s not going to back off,” the senator told ARLnow.

Warner’s mix of short-term caution and long-term optimism on AI is similar to that of U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), who is currently pursuing a master’s degree in machine learning at George Mason University. Beyer has compared coming advancements to the Industrial Revolution and Agricultural Revolution, but has said they will likely take place much more quickly, requiring large-scale responses from governing authorities.

“I think it is very fair to think that artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it eliminates,” the congressman said in 2024. “The challenge, of course, is the people whose jobs we’re eliminating do not necessarily have the skillsets, at that moment, to take on new jobs.”

In Ballston yesterday, Warner joined County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti and members of Arlington’s business community in applauding KnowBe4’s arrival at 4075 Wilson Blvd. The company, which works with more than 70,000 organizations around the world, offers email security services, AI “defense agents” to spot potential risks, and training to help respond to AI-based threats like deepfakes and misinformation.

“By expanding in Arlington, we are working side-by-side with federal agencies, local governments, and educational institutions to protect humans and AI agents,” CEO Bryan Palma said in a press release. “Our expansion also allows us to recruit the area’s best and brightest talent to outpace AI-driven threats and secure the future of our most critical public services.”

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