As Artificial Intelligence Accelerates Job Loss and Rental Inflation, Our Most Vulnerable Populations Are Left Grappling with a Widening Economic Chasm
Artificial intelligence continues to evolve with little oversight, shifting the tides of poverty and power. We see it in price-setting rent algorithms, pervasive misinformation, mass unemployment fueled by automation, and tech advancements that deepen wealth inequality and entrench dependence on a broken system. Is AI on track to push more of humanity into homelessness by replacing real intelligence with something artificially inflated? Time will tell.
What Is AI and Why Does it Pose a Threat to People Living in Poverty?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI for short, is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.”
AI is what you see every time you google a subject or scrawl a question into the ChatGPT box. This crafty bit of tech is practically everywhere. It shows up as the digital assistant on your cellphone, the voice of guidance when you connect your Bluetooth to GPS, and the facial recognition screen used to unlock things, not to mention that creepy robot following you around the grocery store.
For the most part, AI appears to be removing the burden of monotonous tasks from everyday life, freeing up our time for bigger and better things. However, like most technological advancements, AI has a dark side, too, and its drawbacks might outweigh the benefits that it produces.
The biggest drawback is automation, which is projected to replace an astronomical number of occupations. By replacing most entry-level positions, automation will have a disproportionate impact on low-income earners, young people, and people with low levels of education or experience.
Some recent examples already underway include:
- A new Pasadena restaurant, CaliExpress, uses autonomous employees.
- Chipotle is testing a robot to make burritos.
- Self-driving vehicles will likely replace millions of truckers.
- With the prospect of these automated cars, taxis, Uber, and Lyft will become a thing of the past. The gig economy will disappear as robots take over everything from food deliveries to toilet cleaning duties.
Will millions be jobless in under 2 years as AI wipes out an astronomical 46%-49% of all jobs?
Widespread Joblessness and Price-Setting Algorithms Are Already Driving More Homelessness
According to assessments from the World Economic Forum, AI is projected to displace approximately 85 million jobs worldwide by 2025. Their opening statement, “the future of work has already arrived,” concisely summarizes this dystopian reality. Occupational displacements can give way to displacement from housing, a trend we are already witnessing firsthand.
As many professions are being automated, people on the side of tech and science argue that they are being replaced with new careers carved out to support AI. While there is some truth in this argument, the bigger truth is that technology is evolving at a pace too rapid to replace all of the lost jobs in time to save people from homelessness.
Additionally, the jobs being removed are disproportionately entry-level employment positions and careers requiring lower levels of education. This means that the poorest people in the country are the ones hit hardest by AI-related job loss, and that is happening at a time that coincides with an unprecedented affordability crisis. If the economy continues in this manner, we will undoubtedly need universal income, which is unfortunate considering we can’t even maintain universal healthcare at this point.
Adding fuel to the fire is yet another phenomenon produced as a result of artificial intelligence – the issue of algorithmic price settings for rental units. We like to think of the housing crisis as a mishap, not something that’s being contrived by corporations to line pockets and increase human suffering. Yet, every time corporate landlords are given the reigns to do the right thing and make housing affordable for tenants, they use that leverage to take advantage of America’s poor. Their latest efforts include an AI-driven artificial inflation of rental prices that resulted in record-setting rental rates.
And while everyone on the economic ladder felt the pinch, these rent increases are happening mostly in poor neighborhoods. In fact, rental rates are trending down for the countless millionaires now opting for temporary housing.
Digital Misinformation: Homelessness is a Story Being Increasingly Suppressed
AI gives people in positions of power the advantage in rental and job markets and, perhaps more importantly, lends to the push for criminalization agendas.
Homelessness in the US has increased to the point where most people notice it and view it as a cause for concern, as something that could happen to their neighbors, their family members, and perhaps even to them. And the general public is correct in this assertion.
In the 1980s, affordable housing was actually in surplus, whereas today, it is in a drastic shortage. As of 2024 data, the US needs 7.3 million more affordable homes to address the housing affordability crisis.
Sure, there are other factors like addiction, mental illness, unemployment, the sudden loss of a spouse, etc., that make people more vulnerable to becoming homeless. Still, most academic studies point to the lack of affordable housing as the number one cause. These other issues are secondary. There is no way to deny these facts, supported by approximately 20 years’ worth of data and statistics.
So, now that the data is available and the narrative that homeless people have chosen to live on the streets because they’re flawed has been debunked, mainstream sources have resorted to silencing the truth.
By labeling homelessness as a political topic, social media masterminds can use artificial intelligence to root out social media posts that expose the truth about the subject online, the place most young people turn to for their news.
“I think it’s interesting that those social media sites are designating homelessness as a political issue,” said Sarah Saadian of the National Low Income Housing Coalition in a discussion with Invisible People reporters. “When those of us who’ve been working on this issue for decades know that this is a policy issue. And there’s a difference between policy and politics.”
Her point truly hits home for the homeless population because the current legislative policies embrace criminalizing homelessness rather than solving it.
Some People Are Trying to Use AI to Improve the Lives of Homeless People, With Varying Results
Like most technology, AI is neither bad nor good. Its purpose depends on the intention of the person using it. It’s important to note that many organizations attempt to use artificial intelligence to help homeless people. These programs are designed to assess the individual risks of homelessness and present solutions for people who are already homeless.
One recent, optimistic example is a pilot program launched in 2021 by associate director Dana Vanderford of LA County’s Department of Health Services. Her program has already helped hundreds of families at risk of homelessness access between $4,000 and $8,000 worth of aid.
If you think about it, AI could be used for things like:
- case management
- social work
- administrative work
- reducing bureaucracy
- streamlining systems and much more
However, even if it can efficiently complete these tasks, there’s a downside—people will be laid off.
Unfortunately, most of these programs exhibit mixed results at best and have not been very useful in tackling the crisis or even keeping things at bay. Social workers involved in AI-related homeless reduction programs have expressed a need for better implementation, claiming that artificial intelligence has drawbacks even when the organization’s heart is in the right place. Common issues include:
- Algorithmic bias
- Stigmatization
- Privacy breaches
- Lack of empathy due to the lack of human connections that usually occur in the social services sector when humans are used instead of robots
In the end, the prospect of artificial intelligence has negatively impacted people who are experiencing or on the brink of homelessness. Whether this will change in the future depends on you.
Talk to Your Legislators About Regulating AI and Constructing More Affordable Housing
The positive side of technology is the ability to rapidly make changes, even when things are headed in the wrong direction. It is time to shift the pendulum back toward solutions that work and use the latest tech innovations to construct more affordable homes. Talk to your legislators about regulating automated job replacement and embracing the human right to housing.
