Politics
The real threat to Florida jobs isn’t AI – it’s ignoring it
While artificial intelligence (AI) transforms American business, Florida risks being left behind. Recent polling by The James Madison Institute reveals a troubling divide among the state’s workers: though 40% use AI daily or regularly in their jobs, nearly one-third report never using it at all. More concerning, younger workers (17%) are more than three times as likely to use AI daily compared to those 55 and older (5%). This gap isn’t just a statistical curiosity. It represents billions in unrealized productivity gains and a competitive disadvantage that Florida businesses can ill afford.
The resistance to AI adoption stems largely from outdated fears about job displacement. But these concerns, while understandable, are increasingly contradicted by reality. Florida businesses that hesitate to embrace AI aren’t protecting jobs. They’re simply ensuring those jobs become less productive and less competitive in a global marketplace that won’t wait for stragglers to catch up. As Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently said, “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.”
Consider the efficiency gains already transforming early adopters. AI-powered tools are revolutionizing customer service in Florida’s tourism sector, enabling hotels and attractions to handle inquiries in multiple languages around the clock while freeing staff to focus on complex guest needs that require human judgment. In health care, AI assists physicians in analyzing diagnostic images and identifying potential issues faster and more accurately, allowing doctors to spend more time with patients. Logistics companies use AI to optimize delivery routes, cutting fuel costs and delivery times while reducing their carbon footprint.
These aren’t marginal improvements. Research shows employees using AI report productivity increases averaging 40%,while specific workflows can see efficiency gains ranging from 20% to 40%. Customer service operations have achieved issue resolution improvements of 14% per hour and workers report saving multiple hours per week on routine tasks. For a state built on tourism, health care, real estate and international trade, AI offers competitive advantages in every major sector. Florida companies that fail to adopt these tools aren’t just missing efficiency savings. They’re watching competitors in Texas, Georgia, and elsewhere capture market share with faster service, lower costs, and better customer experiences.
The reluctance to embrace AI often rests on apocalyptic predictions about job losses that haven’t materialized. In 2015, McKinsey’s widely cited analysis initially projected that approximately 45% of work activities could be automated using demonstrated technology. This forecast fueled widespread anxiety about a jobless future. But subsequent research revealed a more nuanced reality. McKinsey’s later analysis found that fewer than 5% of occupations could be entirely automated and that between 15% and 30% of work hours could be affected by 2030, depending heavily on adoption rates.
The difference? Real-world implementation revealed what early predictions were missing.
Why the dramatic revision? Because early predictions failed to account for how AI actually functions in the workplace.
Most jobs aren’t collections of identical, repetitive tasks that machines can simply take over. They’re complex combinations of routine work, judgment calls, interpersonal communication and creative problem-solving. AI excels at handling the routine elements, but the human skills of adaptability, emotional intelligence and complex reasoning remain irreplaceable. Rather than eliminating jobs wholesale, AI transforms them by automating the mundane and elevating the human contribution.
This reality presents Florida with both a challenge and an opportunity. The generational divide in adoption of AI isn’t an insurmountable obstacle but rather a roadmap for where investment and attention are most needed. Workers over 55 represent decades of institutional knowledge, customer relationships, and industry expertise that Florida businesses cannot afford to lose. The solution isn’t to replace these experienced workers with younger, more tech-savvy employees. It’s to pair institutional wisdom with technological tools that amplify productivity.
Smart businesses are already doing this. They’re implementing AI gradually, with training programs that emphasize how these tools make existing jobs easier and more rewarding. They’re discovering that experienced workers, once past initial hesitation, often become the most effective AI users because they understand the business context and can better judge when to trust the technology and when to override it. Companies that invest in upskilling their current workforce gain both technological capability and employee loyalty.
For Florida policymakers, the path forward should emphasize removing barriers rather than creating mandates. The state should ensure that workforce development programs include AI literacy. Community colleges and technical schools should partner with businesses to develop training that matches real-world needs. Regulatory frameworks should be updated to enable AI adoption without stifling innovation through premature or excessive restrictions.
The free market will ultimately determine which businesses thrive and which fall behind; however, Florida can create an environment that provides businesses with every opportunity to compete. That means fostering a culture of technological adoption, celebrating businesses that successfully integrate AI while maintaining their workforce, and ensuring that workers at every career stage have access to training.
Florida’s economy has consistently adapted to change, from the introduction of the car to air conditioning to the emergence of the internet. AI is simply the latest transformation, and those who embrace it earliest will capture the greatest advantages. The question isn’t whether AI will reshape Florida’s workforce. It’s whether Florida will lead that transformation or scramble to catch up. With nearly a third of workers not using AI at all, the time to close that gap is now.
Every day of delay is a day of lost productivity, surrendered competitive advantage, and missed opportunity for workers and businesses alike.
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Dr. Edward Longe is the director of the Center for Tech and Innovation at The James Madison Institute.
A spirited Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said he is confident he can gain bipartisan support to win the Governor’s race as he rallied his supporters to vote out “performative politicians in Tallahassee.”
“This is not a right or left moment, but a right or wrong moment in our history. The power of the people is greater than the people in power,” Demings said at his rally Thursday in Orlando’s tourism corridor to officially launch his bid. “We’re tired of toxic and divisive politics. If you vote for me, it’s a vote for a new style of leadership. It’s a vote for change. It’s a vote for democracy.”
Then Demings, a former sheriff, countered, “It’s time for a new sheriff in town.”
Demings will face former Rep. David Jolly in a Democratic Primary. For Republicans, Rep. Byron Donalds and former House Speaker Paul Renner are running for Governor.
Demings has become a Republican target in recent months, before the Orlando Democrat officially announced his bid.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened to suspend Demings and the Orange County Commission from office if they did not approve an immigration contract with the federal government. And Republicans are attacking Orange County over the local Florida Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) audits.
“This week, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida and a few of his Republican friends called me woke. I don’t know what they mean by woke,” Demings countered Thursday. “But after 4½ decades of public service — they woke me up.”
Demings’ rally gave glimpses into upcoming campaign attacks.
“He is an authentic person. He doesn’t change his party,” his wife, former U.S. Rep. Val Demings, said, taking a swipe at Jolly, who switched from Republican to Democrat.
Demings told reporters that Donalds — who many view as the front-runner with President Donald Trump’s endorsement — lacks the experience to run the state.
“He has never worked at this granular level, from being a beat cop to where I’m sitting today, wrestling with the issues that average Floridians have to deal with. He’s not done that. He’s in Washington, D.C.,” Demings told reporters after his rally. “I’ve had to lead through all those circumstances, from terror attacks to mass shooting situations to dealing with hurricanes, to leading during a global pandemic. I’ve been on the ground. There’s no substitute for experience. That’s a big difference between he and I.”
Vowing to bring a new style of leadership of optimism and compassion, Demings is seeking to be Florida’s first Black Governor — the pinnacle in what’s already been a trailblazing career in Central Florida.
Demings, a cop who would go on to become Orlando’s first Black police chief and first Black Sheriff, was elected as the first Black Orange Mayor in 2018.
At his rally, Demings spoke of increasing state employee pay, providing better support for the homeless and people who have a mental illness, as well as restoring power to local governments to stop the state from preempting their authority. He is also focusing on affordability issues, as many Floridians struggle with rising insurance and grocery costs.
Cheering him on Thursday were many Central Florida elected officials, including Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Sheriff John Mina and Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis.
Conservatives are already attacking the latest arrival to the Governor’s race with Donalds’ campaign saying, “ Jerry Demings is weak. He’s woke. And he’s wrong for Florida.
The Washington, D.C.-based Republican Governors Association said in a statement, “Demings may have served in law enforcement at one time, but in elected office, Demings only serves himself and his liberal allies. Florida deserves better.”
Last Call – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
National Review is honoring Ron and Casey DeSantis with the William F. Buckley Jr. Prize as “conservative leaders who have shaped our nation.”
At the ceremony in Palm Beach at the Breakers, the First Couple addressed many topics, including Hope Florida.
The First Lady’s signature initiative is now the subject of a grand jury investigation after $10 million in Medicaid settlement funds to the state were diverted for political purposes rather than to provide health care to the economically marginalized.
The First Lady defended the program as a “really magical thing, which I think is a model for the nation, and it’s thriving here in the Sunshine State.” She did not mention the probe.
Gov. DeSantis, who has conceded that most Floridians disagree with him on restricting cannabis and reproductive rights, defended the use of the money as a last-ditch attempt to convince the general public not to pass measures that went against his policy preferences. He called the abortion and cannabis measures the “two most expensive initiatives in the history of the American Republic.”
“Amendment 3, which was a constitutional right to smoke weed wherever you want, and Amendment 4, which was abortion-till-birth and allowed abortions to be performed by non-physicians … if those (had) passed, that would obviously have changed the underlying dynamics in the state, and ultimately would have turned Florida purple and then blue,” DeSantis said.
“So, as Governor, I didn’t have a formal role in it. But I fought like hell to be able to do it because I’m thinking to myself, ‘what good is it to go through this, win elections, do the policy, if they can just do (George) Soros’ agenda through the back door with these initiatives?’ So we were the first state to beat a marijuana initiative, and we were the first state to beat an abortion-till-birth initiative in ’24. We beat the Left at that, very important,” he added, drawing applause.
Read more on Florida Politics.
Evening Reads
—”Donald Trump officials accused of bullying tactics to kill a climate measure” via Lisa Friedman, Max Bearak and Jeanna Smialek of The New York Times
—”‘None of this is good for Republicans’” via Russell Berman of The Atlantic
—”Flight-cancellation plans prompt scramble across travel industry” via Allison Pohle, Victoria Albert and Lindsay Wise of The Wall Street Journal
—“Why was John Mulaney at the Supreme Court?” via Alex Weprin of The Hollywood Reporter
—”Jurors find sandwich hurler not guilty of assault” via Zach Montague of The New York Times
—”Six election results that didn’t make the headlines” via Rebecca Crosby, Noel Sims and Judd Legum of Popular Information
—“James Uthmeier sues Planned Parenthood over chemical abortion drugs” via Drew Dixon of Florida Politics
—“Haunted by Brightline” via Brittany Wallman and Susan Merriam of the Miami Herald
—”Bird-defending Audubon chapter defeats Florida development planned by nation’s largest homebuilder” via Craig Pittman of the Florida Phoenix
—”James Uthmeier sues Planned Parenthood over chemical abortion drugs” via Drew Dixon of Florida Politics
—”Who is the ‘trad husband’?” via Anna North of Vox
Quote of the Day
“Access to healthy, fresh food is a right, not a luxury, and we should all want everyone in our state to be fed.”
— Rep. Michele Rayner, on her food insecurity legislation.
Put it on the Tab
Look to your left, then look to your right. If you see one of these people at your happy hour haunt, flag down the bartender and put one of these on your tab. Recipes included, just in case the Cocktail Codex fell into the well.
U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody gets a Blue Angel for appealing to the President for special consideration to fund the stunt team and aerobatic performance in Pensacola.
Pour Gov. Ron DeSantis a Milestone in celebration of the groundbreaking on the new inflow pump station, expected to play a significant role in the EAA Reservoir project.
Send a Desert Rain to Rep. Michele Rayner, who is championing legislation aimed at helping local governments open small-footprint grocery stores in Florida food deserts.
Breakthrough Insights
Tune In
Gators look to bounce back after season-opening loss
After opening the season with a loss, the defending national champion Florida Gators play at home for the first time this season as they host North Florida tonight (8 p.m. ET, SEC Network+).
Florida, ranked third in the preseason poll, lost on Monday to No. 13 Arizona in Las Vegas in the Hall of Fame Classic. The Gators returned three starters from last year’s national championship-winning team and have added guard Boogie Fland, who starred at Arkansas last season.
The game marks the third time the Gators have hosted UNF in the home opener. Florida has won all 11 previous meetings between the two programs.
The game marks UNF’s season opener with a new head coach. Bobby Kennen makes his head coaching debut after serving as an assistant to Matthew Driscoll since 2009. Driscoll departed from UNF to join the staff at Kansas State.
Kennen is a well-respected and longtime assistant who is finally getting his shot to be the head coach. UNF will rely on Kamrin Oriol, the team’s top returning scorer, who was a reserve last season. The Ospreys also added Kent Jackson as a transfer from Jacksonville University, Dalton Gayman, a transfer from Division II Purdue Northwest, and freshman BJ Plummer from Rickards High School in Tallahassee.
After facing UNF, the Gators have matchups with two more in-state rivals, Florida State and Miami, next on the schedule.
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson, with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
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