THE WASHINGTON UNION PAPERS: NO. 22

THE ROLE OF AI, AUTOMATION, & INNOVATION IN THE ECONOMY OF THE FUTURE

To the People of the United States,

A nation that cowers before progress will find itself kneeling in servitude to those who command it. The future does not wait for the hesitant, nor does it forgive the complacent—it belongs to those who dare, who build, who seize the forces of innovation before they are wielded against them.

The tides of progress are relentless, and those who resist them are not merely left behind—they are overtaken, submerged, and forgotten. History does not wait for the fearful, nor does it make exceptions for those who refuse to move forward. The economy of the future is not a distant possibility; it is an unstoppable force, reshaping industries, reconfiguring labor, and redefining what it means to prosper. Those who hesitate, those who cling to obsolete methods, those who believe they can halt the march of technology by sheer force of will, will find themselves swept away by the very forces they sought to ignore.

The future does not bow to nostalgia, nor does it entertain the grievances of those who long for the comfort of the past. The innovations that drive economic transformation do not ask for permission—they arrive, unyielding, demanding adaptation, forcing society to choose between action and irrelevance. The tools of tomorrow—artificial intelligence, automation, biotechnology, quantum computing—will not wait for governments to legislate their arrival or for industries to gradually accept them. They are already here, rewriting the rules of production, altering the nature of work, and challenging the balance of power in ways we have only begun to comprehend.

But make no mistake: these forces are neither inherently benevolent nor inherently destructive. The hand that wields them will determine whether they serve as instruments of widespread prosperity or as mechanisms of unchecked dominance. If we fail to control them, if we allow a handful of corporations and policymakers to dictate their trajectory without accountability, we will witness the rise of a new form of economic feudalism—one in which power is no longer wielded by monarchs or politicians alone, but by the architects of algorithms, the gatekeepers of data, and the silent rulers of automation.

If we allow technological advancement to proceed without ensuring that its benefits reach all people, then we will create a world in which wealth is no longer earned through labor, but dictated by access to technology itself.

We cannot afford to stand still. We cannot afford to treat automation and AI as threats to be feared, but neither can we allow them to be deployed recklessly in the name of short-term efficiency. A nation that embraces these forces with wisdom, that invests in its people rather than merely in machines, that recognizes that human ingenuity is the true driver of progress, will rise to new heights. A nation that treats technology as a mere instrument for corporate profit, that permits AI to replace workers without retraining them, that turns innovation into a tool for wealth extraction rather than wealth creation, will find itself crumbling under the weight of its own short-sightedness.

The question before us is not whether AI and automation will shape the next century—it is whether we will wield them in service of prosperity or allow them to widen the chasm between the powerful and the powerless. Will we design policies that ensure AI augments human potential rather than replaces it? Will we build an education system that prepares individuals for a world where adaptability is the most valuable skill? Will we invest in public technological infrastructure to prevent a world in which only the privileged few control the means of progress? These choices are not abstract debates for the future. They are decisions that must be made now, before the inertia of inaction renders them irrelevant.

Those who believe they can simply stand aside and watch as technology reshapes the world without consequence will learn the hard way that progress is indifferent to their hesitation. There is no pause button on the future. There is no option to opt out of transformation. There is only movement—forward, or downward. The time has come to choose, and that choice will define not just the economy, but the very foundation upon which our society is built.

Throughout history, the great economic revolutions have been defined not by those who clung to the old, but by those who built the new. The printing press shattered the monopoly of the scribes. The steam engine rendered the old modes of labor obsolete. The assembly line redefined industry, and the internet rewrote the rules of commerce. Now, we stand at the precipice of yet another transformation—one that will be driven not by human hands alone, but by the intelligence of machines, the precision of automation, and the boundless potential of innovation. It is a moment of both great peril and extraordinary promise. If we wield it wisely, it will be the dawn of an economic golden age. If we fail, it will become the tool of a new economic aristocracy, where power is concentrated not in the hands of kings, nor in the halls of government, but in the unseen algorithms and untouchable corporations that dictate the terms of progress without accountability.

AI is not coming—it has already arrived. It is writing, designing, coding, diagnosing, forecasting, and deciding. It is analyzing vast troves of data in milliseconds, predicting market shifts before they occur, and shaping the world in ways that were once the realm of science fiction. Automation is not a distant specter—it is already on the factory floor, on the roads, in the offices, replacing repetitive tasks, augmenting human capabilities, and transforming entire industries overnight. Innovation is not a luxury—it is the currency of the modern world, the lifeblood of economic dominance, the defining characteristic of those who will lead in the decades to come. The nations that embrace these forces, that channel them toward productivity rather than profiteering, that invest in the people who wield them rather than in the corporations that hoard them, will rise. The nations that do not will watch as their industries crumble, their workforces are displaced without recourse, and their economic sovereignty is auctioned off to those who dared to act while they hesitated.

But let us be clear: progress is not a force to be feared, nor is it an excuse for economic tyranny. It is neither a weapon nor a savior—it is a tool, and as with all tools, its purpose is determined by those who wield it. The automation of labor must not mean the automation of suffering. Technology must be an instrument of liberation, not an engine of economic servitude. If artificial intelligence and automation are to shape the future, then that future must be one in which prosperity is shared, where opportunity is expanded, where innovation does not serve as a justification for mass displacement, but as a means of elevating the dignity of work itself.

The rise of AI must not become the rise of inequality. We have seen this story before—new technologies that promised to bring abundance, only to be monopolized by a select few who hoarded their benefits while the many were left behind. We saw it in the Industrial Revolution, when factories replaced artisans but workers were forced into brutal conditions without protections. We saw it in the digital revolution, when a handful of corporations seized control of data and turned it into the most valuable resource in the world. And now, as we stand at the threshold of an AI-driven transformation, we face the same danger: that those who control automation will use it not to empower humanity, but to entrench their own dominance.

We cannot allow this moment to become yet another chapter in the history of exploitation. The industries of the future must not be controlled by a handful of corporate behemoths who see the power of innovation as a means to consolidate wealth rather than to distribute prosperity. The algorithms that shape our economies, that determine who is hired, who is fired, who receives loans, who is denied access—these cannot be black boxes controlled by unaccountable elites. They must be subject to transparency, to oversight, to the fundamental principles of fairness that any just society demands. If technology is to decide our fate, then it must be governed by those who seek to uplift, not by those who seek to extract.

If AI and automation are to redefine our economy, then we must ensure that they redefine it in service of humanity, not as a tool for the few to extract wealth from the many. That means investment in education—not just in coding and engineering, but in the critical thinking and adaptability that will allow workers to thrive in an ever-changing world. It means policies that ensure automation does not simply replace labor but enhances it, that companies using AI to drive efficiency are also required to reinvest in their workforces. It means ensuring that the gains of this new technological era do not flow only to stockholders and executives, but to the very people who make economies function—the workers, the creators, the entrepreneurs, the communities that have too often been left behind in the name of progress.

This is not a rejection of technology—it is a demand that technology serve us, rather than the other way around. We stand at the precipice of extraordinary transformation, and the path we choose now will determine whether we usher in an age of shared abundance or an era of widening disparity. If we fail to act, if we allow the economic order to be dictated by those who see human labor as disposable and technological power as a means of control, we will find ourselves in a world where innovation is not a force of liberation, but of servitude. But if we seize this moment, if we demand that progress be just, that AI be governed with equity, that automation be harnessed for the good of all, then we will not simply enter a new era—we will build an economy worthy of the future, one that does not discard people in pursuit of profit, but empowers them to reach heights yet unimagined.

A just economy does not cast workers aside in the name of efficiency. It does not permit technology to become a weapon of displacement rather than a tool of empowerment. It does not allow industries to be uprooted without laying the foundation for new ones to rise. We must ensure that as jobs evolve, they evolve toward greater opportunity rather than greater uncertainty. We must invest not just in AI itself, but in the people who will wield it. We must build an education system that does not merely produce workers, but innovators—individuals who can adapt, who can create, who can thrive in an economy where change is the only constant. We must recognize that the role of government is not to resist progress, nor to surrender to it, but to shape it, to ensure that it lifts rather than crushes, that it liberates rather than enslaves.

The power of AI, of automation, of innovation, is immense—but it is not inevitable that it will serve all people equally. The past has taught us that without guidance, without leadership, without the will to shape economic forces rather than be shaped by them, technology does not always bring justice. It can be wielded for profit alone, for control rather than competition, for the consolidation of power rather than the expansion of opportunity. But we can chart a different course. We can choose to invest in public infrastructure that ensures technological progress benefits all rather than a select few. We can build institutions that regulate AI not to stifle it, but to prevent it from becoming a tool of unchecked exploitation. We can create policies that ensure automation does not eliminate jobs without creating new ones, that it does not deepen inequality but instead builds a bridge to a future where prosperity is broadly shared, not hoarded by a technological elite.

We must be the architects of the future, not its victims. The path forward is not written in inevitabilities—it is forged by those with the courage to act, to shape, to build. Progress is not a tide that sweeps over us unchallenged, nor is it a fate we are powerless to control. It is a force to be directed, an instrument to be wielded, a tool to be honed in service of the many rather than a weapon for the few. We must choose to lead rather than follow, to seize the reins of technology rather than be dragged by it into a future where our place is dictated by forces beyond our command. The destiny of innovation must be determined not by passive spectators, but by those bold enough to take hold of it and mold it into something greater.

We must choose to innovate rather than stagnate, to recognize that the greatest economies of history did not rise by resisting progress, but by embracing it and ensuring that its rewards were not hoarded by the privileged, but spread across an entire society. The printing press did not merely benefit the scribes—it empowered the world. The steam engine did not merely enrich industrialists—it expanded the reach of commerce and connected a growing world. The digital revolution did not simply create billionaires—it redefined how humanity interacts, communicates, and works. Now, we stand on the edge of an even greater transformation, where artificial intelligence, automation, and the limitless frontiers of technological discovery will shape the century to come. The only question is whether we will harness these forces for the common good or allow them to become the chains that bind the powerless to the will of the elite.

Let it be said that in this moment, when the course of history was uncertain, we did not falter. Let it be known that we did not resign ourselves to the decisions of corporate overlords who would wield AI and automation as instruments of unchecked power, nor did we allow progress to become a tool of subjugation rather than of empowerment. We refused to let the innovations of our time become the property of an economic aristocracy that would use them to widen the gap between those who control and those who are controlled. We stood against the notion that technology must be used to displace, to exclude, to consolidate wealth in ever-smaller circles of privilege. Instead, we forged a different path—one where AI and automation did not replace human potential, but expanded it; where opportunity was not stripped away, but multiplied; where the future was not a distant dream owned by the few, but a reality built by the many.

Let it be remembered that when faced with the choice between fear and foresight, we chose to build. We built a future where the power of innovation was wielded for the collective good, where automation was deployed to elevate workers rather than discard them, where AI was not the means by which corporations reduced humanity to mere data points, but the tool by which individuals reached new heights of creativity, efficiency, and success. Let it be written that we refused to accept that the prosperity of the technological age must be confined to boardrooms and balance sheets, that we demanded a future where the architects of progress were not only the wealthy, but every worker, every thinker, every citizen willing to embrace the boundless possibilities of human ingenuity.

We refused to be ruled by the fear of change. We refused to surrender the promise of progress to the hands of those who would use it only for their own enrichment. We took hold of the forces that could have widened inequality and instead made them the instruments of shared prosperity. And because we did, because we did not stand still while the world moved forward, because we embraced the immense responsibility of shaping what was to come, we did not simply witness history—we authored it.

The future is not waiting. It is here, now, relentless and unstoppable, demanding action from those bold enough to seize it. It does not slow for the hesitant, nor does it pause for those who long for the comfort of the past. It will not ask permission before reshaping our world.

It will move with or without us, and history will judge whether we were the masters of this transformation or the victims of our own inaction. The question is not whether we will be part of the future—the question is whether we will shape it, or whether it will shape us.

Let us not be the generation that stood still while the world moved ahead. Let it never be said that when the great forces of change surged forward, we cowered in their wake, unwilling to lead, unworthy of the moment. Let us not be the people who watched in silence as power was consolidated into the hands of the few, as opportunity was squandered by those too afraid to reach for it, as progress became the tool of those who would hoard it rather than share its promise. Let it never be written that we allowed innovation to outpace justice, that we allowed automation to replace dignity, that we allowed artificial intelligence to strip away human potential rather than elevate it. Let the pages of history be absent of our failure—let them be filled with the record of a people who dared to take command of their destiny.

Let us be the builders, the visionaries, the architects of an economy that is not defined by fear of the unknown, but by the limitless potential of what we can create. Let us forge an economy that does not discard workers in the name of efficiency but empowers them through ingenuity. Let us design a system where technology serves the people, rather than one where the people serve technology. Let us create an era where prosperity is measured not in corporate profits, but in the security, dignity, and advancement of all who contribute to its success. Let us make this the moment where we break free from the shackles of stagnation and declare, with unwavering certainty, that we are not afraid of what is to come—we are ready to shape it.

And when history looks back upon this moment, let it say that we were not afraid. Let it say that we did not stand on the sidelines while others decided the course of our future. Let it say that we seized the tools of progress, that we wielded them with vision and courage, that we refused to let innovation become a force of oppression rather than a beacon of possibility. Let it say that we broke the cycle of passivity, that we rose not as followers of change, but as its leaders.

Let it say that in the face of uncertainty, we did not shrink—we built. Let it say that when given the choice between hesitation and ambition, we chose to lead. Let it say that we did not just embrace the future—we defined it. And in doing so, we secured not only our prosperity but our legacy as the generation that did not fear progress but harnessed it, commanded it, and made it serve the highest ideals of humankind.