Affordable access to education is critical for ensuring Black workers can participate in the AI-driven workforce. While the full scope of AI-related job displacement remains unclear, the environmental and health effects of data centers are already evident.
Photo: Emiliano Vittoriosi/Unsplash
by Judith Ruiz-BranchPublic News Service
As the nation prepares to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., concerns about the growth of artificial intelligence and its impact on communities of color is increasing. Experts say AI will disproportionately affect Black workers through displacement and the environmental burden of data centers, which are more likely to be located in marginalized communities. Keisha Bross, director of the NAACP's Center for Opportunity, Race and Justice, said Black workers are overrepresented in entry-level jobs, as well as manufacturing and logistics work. "The best thing that these companies can do is really provide educational tools and resources because we don't want people displaced from the workforce," she said. "We want people to be back in the workforce but also earning a wage that's livable." Bross underscored that it's still unclear exactly where and how AI will displace workers. However, the impact of data centers is more clear; they've already been linked to health impacts for people in communities near them. Illinois is a top destination for data centers, estimated to have nearly 200 across the state. Bross said Black communities already face higher unemployment rates. Black unemployment was at 7.5% in December, compared with about 4.5% for the overall population. To ensure Black workers have a place in the new AI economy, she said, workers need affordable access to education. "We have to embrace technology and we have embrace artificial intelligence, but we also have to have oversight," she said, "and we have to have governance in order to make sure that it's not discriminatory, and that we're not implementing technologies that are going to hurt populations of people." Bross said the Trump administration's fight against diversity, equity and inclusion has hurt people of color, but added that it's important for companies to commit to diverse hiring practices because representation matters and a diverse workforce will make their companies more successful in the long run.
