Building an AI-Ready America: Understanding AI’s Economic Impact on Workers and Employers

On behalf of the Sutherland Institute, I appreciate the opportunity to submit this statement for the record regarding the hearing topic, “Building an AI-Ready America: Understanding AI’s Economic Impact on Workers and Employers.” While national discourse often focuses on the controversies and hypothetical risks of large-language models, it frequently overlooks a critical reality: Artificial intelligence (AI) is already improving life for working Americans through its impact on education, government, health care, and family life.

In February 2026, the Sutherland Institute released a report titled “25 Ways AI is Helping People Flourish“, authored by myself and Ford Copple. This report outlines a pro-human approach to artificial intelligence that seeks to empower workers with better tools and enable problem-solving at an unprecedented scale. One of the purposes of the report is to encourage policymakers to ensure that any regulatory framework does not jeopardize the proven pro-human benefits that AI is already delivering. It is contradictory to call AI safeguards pro-human if they eliminate the present or future benefits of this technology to human beings.

We adapted the findings of this report to focus on the beneficial impacts of AI for Americans in the workforce.

Read the full PDF version of the report by clicking the button below.