The Journey to Share My Op-Ed and Advocate for Change
We #DemandAIRegulation
I am a Voice For Change
Sign the petition here today and stand with us in demanding AI regulation to protect jobs, human rights, and the future of our society. Your voice matters—together, we can make a difference!
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Kevin Bihan-Poudec
Southern California, United States
Sunday October 6th 2024
Hey everyone,
I’ve never reached out like this before, but I need your help, and so does the future of our society. AI is advancing at an exponential rate, and if you’re not feeling the impact yet, trust me—it’s coming. For over a year, I’ve been unable to find work as a data analyst because AI and automation have flooded the market, leaving skilled workers like me without jobs. And it’s not just about me—this is happening to thousands of tech workers across the U.S.
AI tools like ChatGPT can now do what I used to do for a fraction of the cost, and companies no longer see the value in hiring humans who need healthcare, benefits, and fair wages. This past January, the Chief of the International Monetary Fund warned that 40% of the global workforce will be impacted by AI, and in more developed countries like the U.S., up to 60% of jobs could be wiped out. She described the labor market changes coming our way as a "Tsunami," and we are utterly unprepared.
We need to act, and we need to act now.
On Monday, October 7th, 2024, I’m calling for a boycott of the U.S. economy. I’m asking everyone to stay home—don’t go to work, don’t engage in any economic activity. We need to show the government that we won’t stand for this unchecked takeover of our jobs by AI. We need AI regulation now, before it’s too late. This isn’t just about tech workers—this affects everyone. Imagine driving a bus that no longer needs you or teaching kids who can ask AI to do their homework for them. Even Elon Musk has said, quote, “AI will not only take away your job, but also the meaning of life.”! What?! Are we okay with this? Let’s do something about it now shall we?
CNN Business headlines on May 23rd 2024: Elon Musk says AI will take all our jobs
This is about our future, about our children’s future, and about standing up for our human rights. The government can do something—like subsidizing reskilling programs for displaced workers—but they won’t, unless we make our voices heard.
Here’s what I’m asking:
Stay home on Monday, October 7th, 2024 – Don’t work, don’t shop. This is a peaceful boycott of the economy.
Share this message on your social media. Use the hashtag #DemandAIRegulation and say, "I am a Voice for Change."
Sign the petition (link below) and encourage others to do the same.
If we don’t act now, we might soon find ourselves jobless, unable to pay rent or mortgages, and watching AI run the very world we built. We’re not powerless—but we must come together to make a stand. Let’s show the government that we won’t let a few powerful tech CEOs destroy the future for the rest of us.
Join me. Spread the word. Let’s make history and start the AI Social Revolution.
Sign the petition here: https://bit.ly/we-demand-ai-regulation-petition
#DemandAIRegulation #VoiceForChange #AIBoycott #AISocialRevolution
Thank you for standing with me. Together, we can make a difference.
Kevin Bihan-Poudec
Advocate for ethical AI and workforce preservation
As the 2024 elections rapidly approach, I’ve felt an urgency like never before to ensure that the critical issues of our time—AI regulation, economic inequality, reproductive rights, and climate change—reach a broader audience. Over the past few days, I’ve been tirelessly working to get my message out, taking steps to submit my Op-Ed to newspapers, blogs, and various publications. The stakes couldn’t be higher, and with just a month left until Election Day, it’s essential that the public gets the opportunity to engage with these issues, shaping an informed public opinion for the greater good.
Why I’m Sharing This Op-Ed
In my article titled “What’s at Stake in This Year’s Election: U.S. Economy, Abortion, Climate Change, Project 2025 and the Role of AI,” I highlight the potential disasters of unregulated artificial intelligence, economic policies that harm working families, the rollback of reproductive rights, and the ever-increasing climate crisis. It’s not just about elections—it’s about protecting democracy and the very fabric of American society. I believe that these arguments are compelling to anyone who values democracy, social justice, and a sustainable future. Given the far-reaching consequences, now more than ever is the time for these ideas to be discussed on a larger platform. More on that below after my….
Open Letter to the People
A Call to Action: The Urgent Need for Ethical AI Regulation
Changing public opinion to reflect common sense and fairness is no small feat. After living in the U.S. for over 15 years from France, I’ve encountered a diverse range of people. But one group I struggle to understand is the pro-Trump enthusiasts, Q-Anon supporters, and others with similar ideologies. They believe Donald Trump will fix everything—that he’s a great businessman who will put more money in their pockets. But have they truly examined his policies, including plans that could raise taxes on middle- and lower-income families? How will this help anyone afford a better life?
Yet, the larger issue I keep coming back to is not just the economy under Trump but the unchecked rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, driven by capitalism’s relentless focus on corporate profits over workers’ well-being. This issue isn’t a distant future problem—it’s happening now.
As a displaced tech worker, I know firsthand what it’s like to be replaced by AI or to struggle to reenter a saturated job market because of it. Despite my decade-long career in data analytics, I’ve been unable to reenter the tech sector for the past year as companies streamline processes with AI to save costs. The public remains largely unaware of this crisis. People ignore it until it directly affects them, but by then, it might be too late.
The warnings are clear. From the dozens of AI webinars I attended in my last role as Director of Business Intelligence, one fact stood out: 300 million jobs globally could be lost to AI and automation in the next three to five years. According to Goldman Sachs, sectors like office administrative support, legal, architecture and engineering, business and financial operations, management, sales, healthcare, and art and design are expected to be impacted. For example, in my field, tools like ChatGPT can now replicate data analytics work for $20 a month. Why would companies pay humans six-figure salaries when they can achieve the same results more efficiently at a fraction of the cost?
In my last consulting job, business owners from various fields frequently asked if AI tools existed to automate manual processes for greater efficiency. While I mentioned that full automation wasn’t available yet, I knew it was only a matter of time. Millions of dollars were being invested in AI plugins for nearly every industry, eventually automating entry-level jobs like bookkeepers and junior accountants. When the Chat-GPTs, the plugins of the AI, were announced in November 2023, it became clear that businesses would soon see the benefits of automation at a fraction of the cost. With AI advancing rapidly across industries, from manufacturing to data-driven roles, the question isn’t whether AI will replace workers, but when.
Look at the 2023 Hollywood writers’ strike. Writers saw how ChatGPT could potentially replace their livelihoods, and they took to the streets to fight for their jobs. They understood that unless proper regulations were enforced, they would all be out of work. They had no choice but to act. I remember thinking back then, this technology is only impacting them, no way it’s going after me as a data guy as I work with numbers all day and have a specific skill that required almost 10 years to be proficient at, oh boy, I was wrong. ChatGPT released their latest version, ChatGPT-4o, a few months later and seeing the capabilities, I knew that my job as a pure data analyst of analyzing the data and manually parsing through it and building reports and telling stories to business owners how to make the best business decisions was dying long term as now the AI was capable of creating bar charts for you in seconds by manually drag and dropping an excel file requiring no skill and was able to answer any questions you had in regards to data analytics, a skill that my last employer was charging hundreds of dollars an hour to a client for my expertise.
Contrary to the Actors Guild strike, unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury of thousands of tech workers standing beside me. As a displaced worker, I’ve been speaking out online for over a year to what feels like deaf ears.
If you haven’t yet been impacted by AI or automation in your field, you might be next—just like I was.
Unless you believe you can outsmart AI, remember this is a technology with the knowledge of the entire web that learns exponentially every day. Forget about your mortgage or rent when there are no jobs left to pay for it. Imagine driving that city bus when no one needs a ride to work, or worse, when the bus is driving itself without you. Picture teaching kids material they can simply ask ChatGPT to do for them, or putting car parts together while humanoid robots are being trained to take your place. And what about your children’s expensive education? They may soon need implants in their brains just to catch up with a world where AI controls everything and who gets ahead in the labor market. Elon Musk himself said, “AI will not only take away your job but the meaning of life.” Let that sink in.
Do you really believe his claims about Universal Income? What is the 1% promising, exactly? To pay us to lay by the beach all day, doing nothing? That sounds realistic. I hope they figure out a way for us to afford products and services to keep the economy running. That's most likely just BS talk to make us feel like they have a solution. Isn’t Mark Zuckerberg building a $260 million bunker somewhere in Hawaii to prepare his family for Doomsday? I read that in the New York Post. These tech billionaires at the top must know what's up with this whole AI thing and where it’s headed. What about the 99% of us at the bottom? Where does that leave us?
New York Post, March 4th 2024: Inside plans for Mark Zuckerberg’s massive $260M bunker on secluded Hawaiian island. The compound will accommodate farming as well as office space. It’ll also include a doomsday bunker. Hmmm 🤔
CALL TO ACTION:
We need to act now, not later. All of us must stop what we’re doing, on the chosen day, Monday October 7th 2024—elections are a month away almost to the day—boycott the economy. Everyone stays home, quietly and peacefully. Let’s call this the start of the “AI Social Revolution.” Let’s see what happens if no paper mail gets processed at the post office and if the U.S. government can run without its people. Forget about everything because in the near future, there may be nothing left for you to protect. Let’s show the government we won’t stand for this, that we won’t let these tech CEOs like Musk and Zuckerberg play with fire, releasing technologies that destroy our jobs, lives, and futures. If this doesn’t compel you to act, watch the AI-generated video below showing the dystopian reality we could be facing in a few years. The elections are just a month away—there’s no time to waste.
C’mon people, my left hand may be in a cast, but I’m ready to fight for Our Future. For America. Are you?
Kevin Bihan-Poudec, a displaced tech worker struggling to reenter the saturated job market for over a year due to AI advancements, is shown above after a bicycle accident on September 28, 2024, which resulted in a fractured left hand. He was on his way rushing to Walmart before closure to get a cashier's check to pay rent and keep a roof on top of his head for another 30 days.
Beyond the risks of rogue AI models that could threaten humanity, the unchecked rise of AI in the marketplace is already wreaking havoc. AI and automation are displacing workers right now, even though you don’t hear about it in the well-curated news funded by tech CEOs and politicians who pay millions of dollars to control the narrative. Thousands of other tech workers, just like me, are facing the same struggles. Unless proper regulations are put in place, we’ll all be replaced by machines. This isn’t science fiction—it’s happening now.
If we don’t fight for ethical AI regulation, we’ll be left jobless, living in poverty, and grappling with a dystopian reality. Think about films like The Hunger Games—the loss of control and disparity between the powerful and the powerless. Is that what we want?
If you care about these issues as much as I do, I urge you to act now by doing the most powerful thing you can: absolutely nothing. Stay home, on Monday October 7th 2024, watch your favorite series all day or catch up on my newly released episodes of my call from the emergency room with French President Emmanuel Macron on advocating for ethical AI. Work on your garden if you have one, or play boardgames with your children you never have time for. Let’s see how long it takes for the news channels to report on what’s really going on—if they ever will. But we will know, because in solidarity, we will prevail. Let’s make History and start a Social Ethical AI Movement that ensures people, not machines, come first. We must act before it’s too late.
Join the start of the AI Social Revolution:
To successfully kickstart the movement, follow these steps carefully to ensure your voice is heard and the demand for AI regulation gains momentum.
Step 1: Stay Home
On the chosen day, Monday October 7th 2024, participate by staying home. Do not go to work or engage in any economic activity. This peaceful, collective action will demonstrate solidarity against unregulated AI and break the silence to open up a much-needed dialogue with the U.S. government leading to election day.
Step 2: Post on Social Media
Share the following on all your social media platforms (without the quotes):
“We #DemandAIRegulation I am a Voice For Change”
along with the image below, which you can download and post by clicking the button below.
Don’t forget to tell your friends, family, and coworkers to do the same. This will help spread the word and show the government that people demand change. The more people who participate, the stronger our message becomes.
Step 3: Check In Online and Sign the Petition
After completing the first two steps, check in at the following link by signing the petition: Link to petition
This will keep a live count of everyone participating, so you can see that you are part of something bigger. Don’t be discouraged by low numbers at first—movements take time to grow. Encourage your friends and neighbors to join too. Just like you, they can be part of making real change.
Step 4: Spread the Word Offline for maximum impact
Speak to your neighbors, friends, or family who may not be online. Tell them about the movement and encourage them to join in the action, whether it’s by staying home, posting online, or participating in other peaceful demonstrations. See below a QR code to the petition page. Each signature counts.
QR code will redirect you to the petition page: https://bit.ly/we-demand-ai-regulation-petition
Reaching Out to the Right Channels
After crafting the Op-Ed, I began reaching out to publications that share similar ideologies and have a broad readership base. Below is the list of newspapers, blogs, and channels that I contacted in hopes of getting my piece published:
The Guardian
HuffPost
Politico
Common Dreams
The Intercept
Democracy Now!
Truthout
The Nation
Medium
The New Republic
Slate
Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS Blog)
Sierra Club
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS Blog)
I carefully chose these outlets for their commitment to issues like environmental justice, economic fairness, and democracy. These platforms align with the ideas I’m advocating for, and I believe their readers will resonate with my message.
Email to the Publications
Here’s the email I’ve sent to each publication:
Subject: Urgent Op-Ed Submission: The Future of America Under Unregulated AI and Trump’s Policies
Dear [Editor’s Name],
I hope this email finds you well. My name is Kevin Bihan-Poudec, and I’m an expat from France who moved to the U.S. over 15 years ago to pursue my American Dream. Today, I am an advocate for ethical AI and workforce preservation, and I’m writing to submit my latest Op-Ed for your publication’s consideration.
As we enter the final month before the 2024 elections, I believe my arguments will resonate with your readers. The piece delves into the significant risks facing Americans, including economic inequality, AI job displacement, reproductive rights, and climate change. I discuss the implications of Project 2025 and outline what’s at stake should we fail to act.
This Op-Ed touches on themes such as:
The rising threat of unregulated AI and its potential to displace millions of workers.
The rollback of reproductive rights and the potential reversal of civil liberties.
Climate change denialism and the retreat from international climate efforts.
How economic inequality under Trump’s policies could leave millions of Americans further disadvantaged.
With only a few weeks until the election, shaping public discourse on these topics is more crucial than ever. I’ve attached my article for your review and would be grateful for any feedback or consideration for publication.
Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
Kevin Bihan-Poudec
Founder, Voice For Change Foundation
Advocate for Ethical AI and Workforce Preservation
#WeDemandAIRegulation I am a Voice For Change
