KIMBERLY BRADY was running out of options(走投无路，别无选择). The 53-year-old Californian had a degree in psychology but was stuck(被困住，无法摆脱) in a low-paid job at Costco selling electronics and jewellery. After some 620 unsuccessful applications for customer-service and sales roles—fields increasingly being reshaped(重塑，改变形态) by AI—she decided to retrain for Costco’s optical department. With no formal programme available, she spent six months teaching herself opticianry(验光配镜技术) from textbooks and YouTube, passed two national board exams and paid thousands of dollars for two licences. But it was not enough. Without hands-on experience(实践经验，动手经验), “they still wouldn’t hire me,” she says.
金伯利·布雷迪已经走投无路了。这位53岁的加州人拥有心理学学位，却困在好市多（Costco）一份销售电子产品和珠宝的低薪工作中。在经历了约620次申请客服和销售职位失败后——这些领域正日益被人工智能重塑——她决定转行到好市多的眼镜部。由于没有正式的培训项目，她花了六个月时间通过教科书和YouTube自学验光配镜，通过了两次国家委员会考试，并支付了数千美元获得两张执照。但这还不够。没有实践经验，“他们还是不会雇用我，”她说。
Ms Brady’s experience points to a broader problem. Switching careers in America is hard; AI may soon make it more common. Around 10m jobs could be displaced(被取代，被淘汰) over the next decade, according to Goldman Sachs, a bank. Entry-level white-collar jobs and routine office work are especially exposed(易受影响的，暴露的), putting both new and current workers at risk. Widespread job losses have yet to materialise, but the fear is already shaping American politics: nearly one in five workers expects AI to eliminate their job within five years.(大规模失业尚未成为现实，但这种恐惧已经在影响美国政治：近五分之一的工人预计人工智能将在五年内消除他们的工作。)
布雷迪女士的经历指向一个更广泛的问题。在美国，转换职业很困难；人工智能可能很快使这种情况更加普遍。据高盛银行称，未来十年约有1000万个工作岗位可能被取代。入门级白领工作和日常办公室工作尤其容易受到影响，使新员工和现有员工都面临风险。大规模失业尚未成为现实，但这种恐惧已经在影响美国政治：近五分之一的工人预计人工智能将在五年内消除他们的工作。
Earlier technologies from electricity to the computer displaced workers but also created new kinds of work. Now some technologists, including Elon Musk, imagine a future in which universal high income(普遍高收入) cushions(缓冲，减轻冲击) people as paid work recedes(退去，减少). Few politicians accept that solution, but devising(设计，想出) a different fix is harder. A serious response would help young people enter the workforce, existing workers adapt as jobs change, and displaced workers move into new occupations.(一个严肃的回应将帮助年轻人进入劳动力市场，帮助现有工人适应工作变化，并帮助失业工人进入新的职业。) Can America build such a system before the disruption arrives?
从电力到计算机，早期的技术取代了工人，但也创造了新的工作种类。现在，包括埃隆·马斯克在内的一些技术专家设想了一个未来，在这个未来中，普遍高收入可以在有偿工作减少时缓冲人们的影响。很少有政治家接受这种解决方案，但设计一个不同的解决方案更难。一个严肃的回应将帮助年轻人进入劳动力市场，帮助现有工人适应工作变化，并帮助失业工人进入新的职业。美国能否在这场颠覆到来之前建立这样一个体系？