This week sets the stage for a two-day summit on artificial intelligence in Tallahassee and beyond.
It takes place June 16-17 and is hosted by Tallahassee State College, where its robust AI skills development course work has made it a national beacon, and the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce.
Still, concerns loom on AI’s impact on jobs in a city like Tallahassee, where approximately 22,000 residents are state workers.
Some local leaders wonder what happens when the state of Florida, Tallahassee’s largest employer, infuses more AI into its operations and where that will lead.
For instance, Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor believes AI provides extraordinary benefits, but he’s concerned about how it could affect Tallahassee’s workforce and local folks’ ability to take care of their families over the next few years.
He cited “wild predictions” by some tech industry leaders regarding the elimination of white-collar jobs and the disruption of the workforce. No one knows for certain what’s going to happen, Minor added, saying “it’s important for our community to prepare.”
“You’ve got Anthropic. You’ve got Microsoft. Some of the leaders in those companies are saying white-collar jobs could be eliminated by 50% over the next few years,” Minor said.
Of Tallahassee’s 170,000 employees in the private, public and nonprofit sectors, Minor said even a conservative prediction of 10% of today’s workforce could mean 17,000 employees displaced.
“You’re talking about 17,000 workers who have invested in their education, that have spent years developing skills for their career that are going to have to find another type of work,” Minor said.
On the other hand, some tech leaders and business owners say there’s room to embrace the emerging use of AI that will likely redesign Tallahassee’s workforce – not replace it.
James Taylor, president and CEO of the Florida Technology Council, said he hears concerns rooted in a universal conclusion: AI is going to take our jobs.
There’s a problem with that thinking, he said.
“We’re immediately assuming that tomorrow’s economy is going to use today’s job list, and it just will not,” said Taylor, adding concerns are “almost fear-based” but legitimate nonetheless.
“As AI moves in the future, we can’t keep our workers, our employers, our schools, our job descriptions all trapped in the past,” he said.
Employers nationwide cited AI as the primary reason for job cuts
U.S. employers said they cut more than 97,000 jobs in May, representing the highest May number since 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a June 5 article on CNBC’s website said.
The article, which focused on AI and the labor market, pulled data from a report by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
According to that report, based on company announcements of job cuts, employers cited AI as the primary reason for almost 40% of May’s announced job cuts. That’s up from 7% in January, 10% in February, 25% in March and 26% in April, the article said.
The May number also brings the total announced job cuts attributed to AI in the first five months of 2026 to 87,714, up from 54,836 throughout all of 2025.
“AI is now the leading reason companies give for cutting jobs,” Andy Challenger, chief revenue officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in the report.
In Tallahassee, members of the Intergovernmental Agency Board met last week and gave a green light to apply for a grant through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA). Roughly $25 million will go toward funding a new AI Upskill Accelerator Pilot Program.
Minor, who led the charge to apply for the grant, said this could be the first step toward helping Tallahassee be better prepared for what’s to come. The initiative provides a blueprint toward the design and implementation of AI workforce training.
When it comes to AI and the workforce, Minor said Tallahassee has two options: Stick our heads in the sand and hope it goes away or, as a community, develop skills for employees so that they’re using AI to increase job security and help businesses become more competitive.
Minor said a collective effort is now necessary, adding local government has a role to play. The Tallahassee-Leon County of Office of Economic Development will submit the application by the July 10 deadline, in partnership with TSC, the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Florida A&M University and local chambers of commerce.
‘What I don’t want is Tallahassee to behave like Blockbuster’
The Florida Technology Council, a nonprofit education association, is a leading voice for companies, decision makers and industry leaders as the state grows its tech sector.
It also provides resources on how to find information on AI and training, including an online course it provides on AI and organizational change management practices.
Taylor contends the notion of AI “taking our jobs” isn’t supported by evidence. He said AI doesn’t eliminate jobs from the economy but rather changes the jobs. Think of it as a redesign, Taylor explained.
“The big part that we tend to be missing the most is the new work that’s going to emerge from AI,” Taylor said, adding now is the time to learn from the past.
“What I don’t want is Tallahassee to behave like Blockbuster.”
He made the parallels between Blockbuster, which at one time was the largest movie rental chain with more than 9,000 stores worldwide, and Netflix ,when the streaming service upended the chain’s customer base.
Blockbuster made minor tweaks, like ditching rewind fees and adding candy to their stores, Taylor said. But the company missed a prime opportunity to embrace the new technology at the time.
“They did nothing to (change) direction,” Taylor said. “Netflix introduced streaming in 2007 and by 2010, Blockbuster was filing for bankruptcy because they did not take that action.”
He offered an example of a necessary shift. In the last month, Taylor said he’s seen higher education leaders turn down prompt engineering courses for coding courses, even after industry officials advised them that AI was taking on coding development.
Tallahassee tech leaders urge mindset shift
Some Tallahassee-based industry leaders with ties to the state weighed in on the issue of how AI will impact the workforce.
Jabaree Allen, founder and CEO of Phusion AI, said repurposing jobs is a better way to look at it compared to replacing them. He said some jobs will “absolutely go away because that’s just by natural selection.”
“When the car first came out, people stopped driving buggies and carts and horses, right?” said Allen, whose company works with the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Financial Services, along with others. “It didn’t happen instantly. It phased out over time, and it gave people time to reskill. I think that’s the phase that we’re in.”
He also said it’s possible for employees to acquire additional skills to earn higher salaries for jobs necessary in the future, adding, “as jobs go away, new jobs will be created because of new opportunities.”
Eddie Gonzalez Loumiet, a partner at Ruvos — an industry leader for data exchange that specializes in health information technology, integrated cloud computing, data science and cybersecurity — works heavily with the state.
Four years ago, the company made an investment toward data science with the introduction of AI to its operations. The move is meant to help Ruvos partners and clients, such as the Florida Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control, better understand and apply data for a quicker response time.
In a recent interview, Gonzalez Loumiet said he sees AI’s evolution and implementation as a good thing. He said companies will need to assess their operations and reposition people to look at “building muscles in terms of other skills.”
“What we’re seeing at Ruvos is that we’re able to build and produce more than we ever have been,” said Gonzalez Loumiet, who’s also chairman of the Board of Directors for the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. “We’re at 75 people. Everyone is building something, from the CEO to everyone.”
As for the state-employee workforce and AI, he said it will be more like a “blip” and not a long-term wave of job losses.
He said there will be an adjustment and commended organizations, such as TSC, for providing upskill courses and events to residents in order to help them get ready to learn more about AI.
“The reality is, it’s already here,” he said.
Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ‘Is AI coming for your job?’: Tallahassee leaders react, prepare
Reporting by TaMaryn Waters, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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By TaMaryn Waters, Tallahassee Democrat | USA TODAY Network
