AI-driven job disruption is showing up in the employment data—and the window to prepare is closing. That’s the blunt argument in a MarketWatch essay by Daniel Gorfine, a former chief innovation officer at the U.S. CFTC who now runs Gattaca Horizons and teaches at Georgetown University Law Center.
Gorfine points to early signals that the shift is already underway. Stanford research finds young workers in the most AI-exposed occupations have experienced a 13% relative decline in employment. “Project Iceberg,” led by MIT and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, concludes that “current AI systems can technically perform approximately 16% of classified labor tasks.” And a JPMorgan Chase report finds 40% of Americans lack basic digital skills—a gap that could make transitions rougher as the next generation of AI models becomes “more capable, multimodal, and tightly integrated into enterprise workflows.”
His core warning is that “calls to ‘slow down’ AI” aren’t “a viable long-term strategy,” because AI is “widely available, rapidly improving, and advancing globally.” He also argues the U.S. can’t repeat what happened with globalization and offshoring, when politicians talked about retraining and then “turned away from actual implementation,” leaving “entire communities” hollowed out.
So what should replace lip service? Gorfine lays out three pillars that translate well into a practical checklist.
Start earlier with responsible AI use. Students should learn how to use AI tools “responsibly early in their education,” alongside foundational skills like “logic, reasoning, and analytical abilities.” He says fears that AI will “rot the human brain” echo the early resistance to graphing calculators—“shortsighted then, and it is now.”
Build a real retraining engine. He calls for a national AI retraining program built with the private sector and community colleges, offering “hands-on courses” and apprenticeships across sectors—not just “tech” roles. Training should be “forward-leaning,” incorporating adjacent skills like “robotics, cybersecurity, quantum computing, and energy development.”
Encourage AI-enhanced expertise, including in finance. The most productive workers, he argues, will pair deep domain knowledge with “a mastery of AI tools,” while humans remain central for “complex decision-making, ethical oversight, and creative direction.”
Gorfine’s bottom line: the country “can’t afford another generation” of failed follow-through. “The time to act is now.”
