JB Pritzker
JB Pritzker is the Democratic governor of Illinois.
“If these days 4% unemployment is kind of the acceptable near full employment number, I think the problem we're going to see is that in very short order, we could end up at 7% and have that be the baseline and maybe 10%. ... When you get to 10% unemployment in any country, we better be focused on how we're going to give people the dignity of work and enough income so that they can make a life for themselves.”
Decoder with Nilay Patel · Tech Strategy & Big Tech · October 2026
Context
Pritzker on Decoder, discussing how AI could change employment in the United States and what governments should prepare for.
Transcript
…that's already possibly taking office this November. I'm 61 years old, but I think of myself anyway, having come out of the tech world and as somebody who has been a fighter for progressive values, that, yeah, we got to become more aggressive and make sure we're standing up for our people.
…these companies, thinking about the dynamic between the government and the biggest companies in the world. I'll just ask the question, I guess, more directly. Do you think Newsom was right to give in to Paramount, or do you think he should have made them make good on that threat to leave?
I can't speak to the Paramount situation well enough to give you an answer. And so it would be unfair for me to do so. I can say once again that our orientation today, and I think about the big AI companies and the big social media companies as well, our orientation really has to be like, wait a minute, too much power in too few hands. And particularly when we talk about AI, where it's potentially existential, but certainly transformative is probably a kind way to say it about the economy, that we're going to have to get very engaged. Guardrails, of course, on both parts, but also addressing what I think on the AI front is potentially a significant change in employment in the United States. And, you know, I'm not somebody who necessarily is convinced that we have to see a whole bunch of job loss, but that does feel like that's the direction this is going. And so what I'm suggesting is we better be prepared and we better be protecting people who are going to lose their jobs, or at least it appears they're going to lose their jobs. And I'll just give you this thought. If these days 4% unemployment is kind of the acceptable near full employment number, I think the problem we're going to see is…
And I wanted to start with some of the brinksmanship we have seen in the negotiations between particularly states and the big companies, because that brinksmanship is real. The threat is we will leave. We just covered, I don't know, Kevin O'Leary in Utah talking about data centers and the people of…
We are in competition. We just are. Because it isn't bipartisan, at least if you ask me. Unless there is a change in the government, I'll pick on Texas for a second. And there is a chance that you'll see a new governor in Texas as of November 3rd. In fact, a good chance. But if you look at Texas as…
want to ask those questions just to set the baseline. I really do think something is happening, right? A lot of young people are dissatisfied with the status quo. A lot of people in general are dissatisfied with what big tech companies are trying to do with AI, with the potential for job loss. And…
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