U.S. Vice President Sees AI as an Opportunity, Not a Job Killer – Says U.S. Is ‘Under-Indexed in Technology’

At the Winning the AI Race summit in Washington, D.C., Vice President JD Vance pushed back against rising fears that AI and robotics will wipe out jobs across the U.S. economy, particularly in transportation and manufacturing.

Speaking directly to concerns raised by entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, who warned that AI-powered systems like self-driving cars and Elon Musk’s Optimus robot could decimate jobs in driving and factories, Vance offered a different assessment.

“If the robots were coming to take all of our jobs, you would see labor productivity skyrocketing in this country. But actually, you see labor productivity flatlining,” Vance said. “What that means, from my perspective, is that our country is under-indexed in technology, not over-indexed.”

His argument was simple but striking: if AI were truly replacing workers en masse, productivity would surge. Instead, he pointed to years of stagnating productivity as evidence that the real problem is the underuse of technology, not its overreach.

Real-World Proof: Hadrian’s AI-Powered Factory to Add 350 Jobs

Backing Vance’s position, AI-focused defense tech startup Hadrian announced it had raised $260 million in Series C funding to build a new 270,000-square-foot facility in Mesa, Arizona. Despite its heavy use of automation and robotics, Hadrian’s “Factory 3” is expected to create 350 new manufacturing jobs.

Hadrian, which builds precision parts for aerospace and defense industries, already operates advanced automated factories in California. According to CEO Chris Power, their first factory runs 10 robots for every human employee and manufactures roughly 10,000 components per month for rockets, satellites, and defense equipment.

This model illustrates that AI and robotics are not just reducing labor—they are also creating new, highly-skilled jobs, supporting Vance’s thesis that the U.S. can grow both technologically and economically if policy encourages innovation.

Silicon Valley’s Overreliance on Foreign Talent

Vance also took aim at tech companies for claiming a STEM talent shortage while sidelining American graduates.

“If you’re not hiring American workers from out of college for these jobs, then how can you say that you have a massive shortage?” he asked.

He called for more opportunities for U.S. graduates, noting that Big Tech’s hiring patterns have leaned heavily toward foreign labor under the H-1B visa program, while many American STEM students remain underemployed.

Vance’s speech is also part of a broader push by the Trump administration to keep regulation of AI minimal. At a separate event in Paris earlier this year, Vance declined to endorse the European Union’s AI safety pledges, criticizing the bloc’s “excessive regulation” and reaffirming the U.S. position in favor of innovation-first policies.

“We’re not going to slow down American innovation because Europe has chosen to shackle theirs,” he reportedly said.

This puts Washington and Brussels at opposite ends of the regulatory spectrum, with China also rising as a competitive force, having recently launched its own GPT-4 competitor, DeepSeek R1—an event that has rattled U.S. investors and heightened urgency around maintaining technological leadership.

Vance’s remarks support a shift from fear-based narratives to opportunity-driven discussions around AI. Rather than viewing automation as a job killer, he painted a picture of technology as a growth engine—one that, with the right policies, could rebuild American manufacturing and strengthen the labor force.

Hadrian’s robotic factory suggests that this vision is already being realized on the ground. And with the Trump administration firmly behind AI innovation, Washington is betting big that the next wave of technological advancement won’t erase jobs—it will build them.