Government is bloated. And it is bloated at all levels. The national debt is $35 trillion. The U.S. debt to GDP ratio stands at 123% according to the International Monetary Fund. State and local government debt, as of 2021, was $5.7 trillion according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and has no doubt risen since then.
More people are partaking in government services than ever before. From Social Security to Medicare and Medicaid to phone and internet services, it takes a mountain of employees and paperwork to administer these programs. There are currently 23.3 million government workers at the federal, state and local levels. According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics “Total employer compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $61.27 per hour worked in March 2024.” Based on a 40-hour work week, this translates to an average cost of $127,441 per government worker for wages and benefits.
That is why governments at all levels should embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) to cut down on spending. There are perhaps hundreds of thousands of jobs that require a person that could be filled by AI and robots that simply require maintenance and updating similar to apps on your cell phone. Not only that, AI agents do not require pensions, healthcare, dental and the litany of other benefits human workers require. Just as a company must find ways to reduce its financial obligations during lean times, so too should the government.
To be clear, I am not calling for mass firings of government workers, nor am I implying that all government jobs could be replaced by AI, nor am I suggesting that this is a final solution to our fiscal woes. I am simply advocating that our elected officials consider adapting to this new technology to begin the process of climbing out of our mountain of debt. A simple starting point would be to replace those who retire with automations and AI agents, as opposed to another human.
Government’s role is not to create jobs, but to facilitate a marketplace that enables entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive – thus creating private sector jobs and growing our economy. And for most of our history that is exactly what it has done. The United States is still the best place to start and grow a business. That is why exciting things like AI continue to change the economic landscape and provide new opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses. It now can change the government landscape as well.
While the regulation of AI has been the government’s focus, and there should be a healthy debate around that, it should not be blind to the advantages of it when it comes to basic functions. As certain government programs, such as Social Security, careen towards insolvency, getting spending under control is not something that can wait. An annual deficit of $1.2 trillion is not sustainable and is a serious problem. AI can be part of the solution.
