To the Editor:

Regarding AI. AI’s useful—even fun sometimes. It’s not going away. AND it’s a significant threat to the way we live our lives. We’d do well to think about the potential impacts and how to mitigate them. While many are legitimately concerned about privacy issues with DOGE, there’s another issue that no one talks about.

Early in my career, I wrote procedures for employees in academic and technical environments. My first priority was to identify employees and their job titles. Then I identified their roles, and finally their tasks. To identify tasks, I asked employees to tell me five things they did last week. That data went into a manual to clarify roles and responsibilities and to train new hires.

The data I collected back then is what DOGE is collecting now. But Musk isn’t doing it to create manuals. That’s old tech. He’s gathering this data to build his AI venture. So he can automate the work. And he’s getting all that data for free. A nice competitive edge, wouldn’t you say? Once he does that for the feds, he can easily expand into the private sector. No humans need apply.

We need to prepare. Where’s the plan? How will we reorganize our economy to accommodate massive unemployment? I’m not saying we can’t find other ways to fill our lives. The question is, how will we transition economically?

Ask yourself, how will it affect me, my children, my neighbors, my community? What do we do when machines take our jobs? During the transition, should we weaken or strengthen our social safety nets? We can’t afford to get distracted by the chaos. There’s a reason why this looks more like a smash and grab than an orderly process.

They aren’t getting rid of waste. They’re getting rid of humans. Then they’re coming for more. Because—for men like Musk and Trump—there’s never enough.

Pat Collins,

Fillmore, Ca.