Behind the Curtain: The ever-growing AI inequality gap (www.axios.com)

U.S. tech firms are treating AI like a modern Manhattan Project — pouring unprecedented money and engineering effort into winning a race for superintelligence while the federal government largely stalls on preparing the workforce. That dynamic is widening an inequality gap: investors, engineers and AI companies are capturing most of the gains (AI-driven stock growth, private funding and new data centers), while ordinary Americans face rising prices and a shaky jobs market. High-profile figures from Elon Musk to Sen. Bernie Sanders now warn that automation could displace vast numbers of workers, and companies like Amazon have internally discussed robotization scenarios that could avoid hiring as many as 160,000 people by 2027 (with broader estimates suggesting 600,000+ roles potentially affected). The technical and political implications are urgent. Leaders from Anthropic to policymakers project large-scale white-collar disruption — Dario Amodei has said half of entry-level white‑collar jobs could be eliminated within five years, with unemployment spikes possible — yet Congress remains reluctant to regulate or to prepare systemic responses. The U.S.-China AI rivalry compounds the stakes: loss of leadership could have strategic consequences, and the concentration of AI profits risks deepening social and political fractures. Absent coordinated policy on retraining, social safety nets or equitable investment access, the benefits of rapid AI progress look likely to accrue to a few while many workers bear the downside.