CA23: Congressman Jay Obernolte Wants Let AI Run Wild And Why It’s Crushing Workers, Breaking Lives

The relentless parade of half‑baked, over‑hyped artificial intelligence slop is not just a tech problem it’s a social disaster. What we’re witnessing is a flood of AI slop sweeping across America creating services no one asked for, replacing real human connections with synthetic relationships, sucking away American jobs, and exacerbating the loneliness epidemic. Meanwhile, Jay Obernolte and his regulatory colleagues are pushing for a 10-year moratorium.

Generative AI and automation are not just replacing routine manual labor anymore they’re now picking off cognitive tasks as well. AI’s capacity for non‑routine work sets it apart and presents a threat to the quality and availability of work that underpin stable societies.  The giant sucking sound we feared is real and workplaces are being hollowed out, career ladders collapsing, and workers left stranded.

Americans have been grappling with profound isolation for years, and AI is not helping, it’s worsening the crisis. One article notes that while AI may seem like a handy assistant, it’s often replacing human apprenticeship and workplace interaction, leaving workers isolated in front of screens. Turning to tech replacements for socio‑emotional work is likely to have serious consequences including the radical shrinking of the connective‑labor workforce. This is sure to make Rep. Obernolte and other conservative happy as they finally get to bust unions.

In this climate of job insecurity and social detachment, regulation matters, but the political will seems absent. If Obernolte was truly serious about protecting Americans, he would get his bipartisan framework enacted to get AI to truly serve the public instead of standing by while AI is sucking value, connection and jobs out of our communities. No, Obernolte would rather stand back, stand by, and rubber stamp whatever stupid idea President Trump has to offer.

AI isn’t inherently evil, but deployed without guardrails, it becomes a monster. Job by job, human by human, our workforce is hollowing out. Relationship by relationship, our bonds are becoming fragile.

If Congress continues to stand idly by, allowing the AI wave to roll on uncontrolled, we risk losing more than jobs. We risk losing what it means to connect, belong and contribute. We risk losing a society where people matter.