INDIANAPOLIS — Braun administration officials and business leaders on Tuesday said early AI adoption will give Indiana businesses a competitive edge.
Gov. Mike Braun announced the state is launching a new initiative called “IN AI.” The program is intended to accelerate AI adoption by Indiana businesses, with small businesses getting priority.
He said the program will emphasize “human-centered” AI approaches. The state already has launched a website containing training modules and guides to AI best practices. AI workshop roadshows are planned for this summer, along with virtual training seminars.
“We want to help workers and businesses unlock these advantages, and we’re doing it in a way that puts people first,” Braun said. “This program will help businesses adopt AI in practical ways.”
Braun said grants for AI adoption are possible as well, though that would depend on the state’s financial situation. He said any such grants most likely would go through the existing READI Program.
Two business leaders attending the governor’s announcement, both of whom own manufacturing firms, said they have already put AI to use in their companies. Jasper Group CEO Chad Harter said he has started using AI programs to extract and log parts information for items such as the commercial furniture his company makes. He said he estimates this has saved his employes as much as five months’ worth of work.
Hyndman Industrial Products owner Joe Hyndman said he uses it for market research and inventory management. He said the key to successful use of AI is to first think carefully about where AI adoption makes the most sense for a particular company.
“To my fellow owners in traditional industries, map the workflow first, build the solution around the business and put it to work,” Hyndman said.
AI has been cited in some recent high-profile layoffs. Last week, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta announced it will lay off 8,000 workers–about 10% of its workforce–and eliminate another 6,000 open positions. Microsoft plans to offer buyouts to 8,750 of its employees, or 7% of its payroll. Both cite greater automation through use of AI.
Studies of the overall impact of artificial intelligence on employment so far are mixed. On Friday, Goldman Sachs released a new analysis in which it estimated AI had raised unemployment by 0.1% over the past year. According to an ongoing analysis by Tufts University, knowledge jobs such as writers, computer programmers and statisticians are most at risk of having their jobs eliminated due to AI. Jobs such as construction, manufacturing or health care face much lower risks. Tufts’ analysis estimates AI could eliminate some 61,000 jobs in the Indianapolis metropolitan area.
At Tuesday’s announcement, Braun and others drew parallels between AI and the adoption of computers in the 1980s and the internet in the 1990s. A Yale University study released last October compared the rate at which workers report starting new occupations to similar data in the months and years following the emergence of those two earlier technologies. Researchers found the job mix is changing slightly faster now compared to the early days of the internet or computers, but not in a statistically significant way.
Indiana’s labor unions are sounding a cautionary note. Indiana AFL-CIO President Brett Voorhies said AI should be approached in a way that minimizes job losses.
“For all the potential benefit that AI can offer, there is a real risk that Hoosiers face in this gambit. The decisions and considerations we take up now will shape our economy for decades to come. Working people in Indiana deserve a seat at the table here and we demand common sense guardrails on AI. The explosion of AI across the economy is enriching tech billionaires while jeopardizing workers’ livelihoods by potentially eliminating or worsening jobs, threatening worker safety and privacy, and infringing on civil and labor rights. Any policy on AI in Indiana must protect workers as a fundamental principle. AI is a top issue for voters across the political spectrum and politicians would be wise to fully adopt a workers first approach on any policies governing this matter of such great economic consequence.”
