Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity urges policy action, warning that Universal Basic Income is needed to stabilize families as AI transforms the workforce

The Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity today released Impact of AI on Workers in the United States, a groundbreaking analysis revealing that artificial intelligence is on track to disrupt roughly one in four U.S. jobs by 2028. The report warns that we are entering an economic upheaval on a scale seen only once a century, requiring bold policy responses to protect families and communities.

To ground its findings, the study draws on one of the last comprehensive, unaltered views of U.S. workforce data, provided by the National Science Foundation and analyzed with the O*NET occupation database. With public access to timely jobs data increasingly uncertain, the Fund is releasing its analysis now to ensure the scope of change is visible and to help policymakers prepare a safety net before the impact deepens.

The report urges policymakers to adopt a Universal Basic Income as an income stabilizer, redesign work with a human-first approach, safeguard public access to government workforce data, and invest in skills that AI cannot replicate, such as adaptability, ethics, creativity, and emotional intelligence. Just as Social Security emerged from the Great Depression as a stabilizing force for workers, today’s extraordinary circumstances call for a modern stabilizer in the form of UBI. Without such protections, downstream consequences will cascade: mass income insecurity, increased poverty, destabilized local economies, and widening inequality.

“We can’t retrain our way out of this,” said Gisele Huff, Founder and President at the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity. “A Universal Basic Income is a transitional solution and is essential to give people the security and agency to navigate AI-driven change. And this analysis is built from one of the last real, comprehensive views we have of workforce data — before political or corporate spin can cloud the picture. The public deserves that clarity so we can prepare together, before it’s too late.”

Key Findings from the Report

• Job Disruption – 45.3 million jobs are at risk of being disrupted by AI by 2028.
• Shift in Automation – AI is advancing into white-collar, cognitive, and administrative work, from HR and finance to customer service, education, and healthcare, not just physical labor.
• Hardest-Hit Sectors – Retail, Finance, Education, and Real Estate face the highest levels of expected disruptions.
• Skill Protection – Human-centric skills such as empathy, adaptability, and judgment will be the strongest defense against automation.
• Retraining Limits – Historical trends show that retraining alone often leads to lower wages and long-term income loss.

The report calculated an AI Impact Score for each industry by subtracting the projected AI Creation Score (potential for new roles) from the AI Disruption Score (likelihood of automation), then weighting the result by industry size and employment share. Using this measure, the Retail Trade sector faces the highest projected impact with an estimated 6.6 million jobs at risk, followed by Healthcare and Social Assistance (6.4 million jobs), Educational Services (4.6 million jobs) and Finance and Insurance (2.2 million jobs).

“UBI is more than a safety net; it’s the foundation of a just economy,” said Scott Santens, CEO of the Income To Support All Foundation. “With that foundation, people can learn, build businesses, care for family, and seize new opportunities as the economy shifts. AI is built on the capital of collective human effort, and UBI is the rightful dividend that ensures everyone shares in its gains.”

Methodology

Funded by the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, this study analyzed 745 occupations across 20 major U.S. industries using labor data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET database and the NAICS industry classification system. Each occupation was evaluated for:

• AI Disruption Score: Likelihood of tasks within the role being automated by AI.
• AI Creation Score: Potential for AI to create new functions or job categories.
• AI Impact Score: Net effect of AI on employment (disruption minus creation).

Impact scores were weighted by industry size and employment share to produce an industry-level model of projected AI-driven job changes. The analysis projects effects over a three-year horizon (through 2028) and highlights both job losses and creation potential at the occupation and sector level.

About the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity

The Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity is a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was created in 2019 to promulgate the message of Gerald Huff, ardent proponent of Universal Basic Income as a transitional solution to the existential threat of technological unemployment. The Fund's mission is to promote the understanding of UBI, its acceptance, and its implementation.

Among the Fund’s current initiatives are Basic Income Today, an online information and community site dedicated to providing news and information and furthering the discussion and debate about UBI.

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