Shaping the Conversation

“I lost my job, and unfettered AI made it much harder to find work again” - The Hill

BY KEVIN BIHAN-POUDEC, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 09/19/25 10:30 AM ET

I came to the U.S. from France over 15 years ago with a dream familiar to many immigrants: to build a better life, contribute meaningfully, and honor the values of freedom, opportunity, and resilience that make America unique.

For years, that dream felt within reach. I worked hard to become a data analyst, developed my skills, and immersed myself in a career I loved — until the dream began to slip away.

In November 2023, I lost my job — and in the months that followed, so did hundreds of thousands of others. It was not because we lacked talent or drive, but because the tech field was undergoing sweeping operational shifts and streamlining workforces in pursuit of profit, often at the expense of human labor. 

I soon found myself on the outside of a saturated job market — not for lack of trying, but because resumes now pass through automated Applicant Tracking Systems that often reject qualified candidates before a human ever sees them.

Just like that, I was not just unemployed — I was invisible.

In America today, losing your job is only the beginning. What comes next — navigating a system that no longer works for you — is often even more devastating. 

Government safety nets that once offered a path to recovery have frayed beyond recognition. When I applied for unemployment benefits, I was met with endless red tape and automated phone systems that never called back.

I lost my healthcare. I lost my financial footing. I lost my sense of stability. All the while, mass layoffs swept across industries — including government sectors — yet the response from Washington fell short of the urgent action workers needed. And with each act of indifference, we lose a little more of what once made this country strong: the dignity of work, the promise of opportunity, and the strength of the people who built it. 

And yet, despite still navigating a hiring landscape that is now unrecognizable from just a few years ago, I never left. I chose not to return to France. I am still here, standing — as much as I can — because I never lost my will. I believe America can — and must — do better in supporting its people through times of transition.

Recent revisions to federal labor data make clear that my experience is not an isolated one — it’s part of a much larger, troubling trend. The U.S. Labor Department’s latest update revised job growth downward for May, June and July 2025 by a combined 279,000 positions, with 13,000 jobs actually lost in June.

Economists now warn that fewer than half of all industries have been adding jobs in recent months — an unprecedented slowdown outside of a recession. This means the already difficult hiring landscape for displaced workers like me is even more dire than we thought, yet national headlines still point to a “low” unemployment rate that hides the reality of shrinking opportunities in the white-collar economy.

We need a comprehensive federal plan that provides long-term solutions. As states are now beginning to pass their own AI laws, these efforts, while important, do not offer enough guardrails. Without a unified federal framework, America risks erosion of trust, consumer harm, competitive disadvantages in standards, and the loss of global leadership in AI innovation. What is needed now is a national approach that safeguards workers, ensures accountability, and strengthens the American Dream in the age of AI.

This is not about partisan victories or temporary measures — it is about building lasting protections for the American people. And yet, while progress has stalled, the lack of action has been deafening — but not defeating.

If we are to renew our democracy — and our dignity — we must fight not just for political power, but for economic justice and for the right to work, live and belong. That is the American Dream I continue to believe in, and the America I know we can live up to together.

Kevin Bihan-Poudec is a data analyst and the founder of the Voice For Change Foundation, a nonprofit focused on AI ethics, workforce policy and job preservation.