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In a stark and impassioned town hall appearance on Wednesday evening, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) delivered a sobering warning to American workers across the country.
The veteran senator painted a grim picture of the future of labor in the United States, citing accelerating advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and aggressive cost-cutting measures within the federal government led by Elon Musk, President Donald Trump's top adviser.
“Think about what’s happening here,” Sanders began, speaking to a packed auditorium and a nationwide audience via CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “If Elon Musk can push thousands of federal employees out of their jobs—many of whom are unionized and have spent years serving this country—what do you think will happen when that same technology reaches the private sector?”
His comments come amidst growing public concern over Musk’s controversial role in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new federal agency created during Trump’s second term with the goal of “streamlining” the government.
Under Musk’s direction, DOGE has already overseen the termination of over 30,000 federal positions, citing redundancy and automation as primary reasons.
While some hail these moves as necessary steps toward a leaner, more efficient bureaucracy, critics like Sanders argue that the human cost is too great—and that it may just be the beginning.
Sanders warned that this wave of job eliminations in the federal sector is merely a preview of what’s coming for millions of workers in retail, transportation, manufacturing, education, and beyond.
“We’re not just talking about low-wage jobs,” Sanders emphasized. “We’re talking about coders, legal aides, teachers, accountants. Jobs that many Americans once thought were safe. AI is evolving so rapidly, and corporate leaders like Musk are driving this transition without any meaningful protections for working people.”
Economic researchers and labor advocates are beginning to echo these concerns. A 2024 report by the Labor Futures Institute projected that by 2035, up to 40% of current U.S. jobs could be impacted or replaced by automation and AI-related technologies.
“Tech leaders promise innovation,” Sanders said. “But without regulation, without a moral compass, what they really deliver is displacement.”
The Department of Government Efficiency was created with much fanfare during President Trump’s second inaugural year. Branded as a way to bring Silicon Valley’s agility to Washington, the department’s scope has quickly grown—from auditing internal workflows to automating entire divisions.
Musk, appointed as the “Efficiency Czar,” has brought with him a private-sector approach that critics say is wholly unsuited for public service. Since his appointment, he has implemented algorithm-driven performance reviews, downsized departments based on predictive AI models, and replaced thousands of administrative workers with chatbot systems.
“He’s treating public servants like they’re lines of code,” Sanders scoffed during the town hall. “These are real people with families, with mortgages, with lives. And they’re being discarded for the sake of quarterly savings.”
Sanders described DOGE as “an experiment in authoritarian technocracy” and lambasted President Trump for allowing one of the world’s richest men to dictate public policy.
“No one elected Elon Musk,” he reminded the crowd. “Yet he has more power over your job right now than your local representative.”
At the heart of Sanders’s critique is a deep worry about widening economic inequality. He framed the rise of automation not as an abstract technological shift but as a power struggle—one in which working-class people are being left behind.
“Do you think Elon Musk and his billionaire friends are losing sleep over how AI is going to affect American workers? Of course not,” Sanders said. “They’re investing in it. They’re profiting from it. While millions of Americans lie awake at night wondering if they’ll have a job next year.”
Sanders has long advocated for a more equitable distribution of technological gains. He supports policies such as universal basic income, a federal jobs guarantee, shorter workweeks with full pay, and mandatory retraining programs.
“If automation increases productivity and wealth, then that wealth should belong to everyone, not just to the top 1%,” he asserted. “We have a choice: we can let the future be built by billionaires for billionaires, or we can build it together—with justice, dignity, and economic democracy.”
As job security wanes and anxiety rises, Sanders urged immediate legislative action. He called on Congress to pass the Worker Technology Transition Act, which would provide financial support, retraining opportunities, and job placement services to those displaced by AI and automation.
He also advocated for the creation of a National AI Oversight Board to ensure transparency, fairness, and accountability in the deployment of AI systems—particularly those used in public decision-making.
“Tech should work for people, not against them,” Sanders said. “We don’t need to stop progress—we need to guide it. We need to make sure it uplifts workers instead of throwing them into the gutter.”
His message resonated strongly with the town hall audience, many of whom expressed concern over job automation in their own industries. One attendee, a former IRS employee recently laid off due to DOGE’s restructuring, told CNN she felt “discarded, dehumanized, and scared for the future.”
At 83, Sanders remains a tireless advocate for the working class, and his town hall speech was a powerful reminder of the progressive movement he helped galvanize over the past decade. Whether or not he plans another run for public office remains to be seen, but his call to action was unequivocal.
“History is being written right now,” he concluded. “And it will either say that we allowed the rise of AI to crush the American worker—or that we stood up, we organized, and we demanded a future that works for everyone.”
The future of work in America may be uncertain, but if Sanders has his way, it will be shaped not by billionaires or algorithms—but by people.
