If you worry that robots will render human workers obsolete, the coronavirus pandemic offers ample reason to worry more.

But there’s an upside to this crisis: It’s an opportunity to negotiate better terms with our new AI overlords https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

The pandemic has brutally divided workers into two classes:

Those whose employers protect them from the virus
Those who lose their jobs or unemployment insurance if they refuse to work in dangerous conditions https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

Take meat processing plants, for example, where hundreds of workers are getting sick.

If they can’t reopen safely and profitably with humans, they can and should with robots https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

Until now, one of the biggest obstacles was the transition cost of going from badly paid humans to machines.

But if companies disrupt that workflow by shutting down production to save lives, then they’ll have paid much of the cost already https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

People may welcome the brave new world, especially if it’s more hygienic to let robots and algorithms:

Take payment for groceries
Vacuum floors
Deliver purchases
Drive and clean cars https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

Accepting this transformation means subjecting ourselves to the tech giants who make the algorithms. They’ll:

Hold all the data
Control the supply chain
Have direct power over consumer and political behavior https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

But a lot of people seem to be ok with that.

Surveys suggest people trust the tech companies more than the federal government https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

The main question is what then happens to the enormous jobless underclass created by an accelerated shift to automation.

The sheer magnitude of the current crisis may help them https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

When so many people are suddenly and violently thrown out of work at the same time, it creates a sense of solidarity.

They’ll be more likely to claim a political voice, because they’ll feel entitled to one https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

Real change looks newly possible in light of the unprecedented measures the government has already taken to combat the crisis.

Congress conjured trillions of dollars to bail out mostly businesses. It could do the same for people https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz 

In sum, this crisis brings with it an opening for collective action.

If the winners of the AI revolution want to avoid the business disruption of an actual revolution, they should be prepared to negotiate a new and very different deal https://bloom.bg/2LeMXZz