By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
PIKESVILLE, Md. — Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, says Marylanders have good reason to be nervous about artificial intelligence coming for their jobs. He just won’t say what his administration would actually do if that happens.
Pressed Sept. 4 by Spotlight on Maryland, a reporting partnership between Fox45 News, WJLA and The Baltimore Sun, Moore acknowledged the anxiety AI has stirred among workers. But when a reporter asked him directly what his plan was, he didn’t name one. He talked instead about the need for “guardrails” and community involvement.
“I think there is a reason for people to be concerned,” Moore said, adding that the public hasn’t received adequate explanation of the technology.
What Moore didn’t offer was a count of how many Maryland jobs his administration believes are at risk, which occupations would get priority help, how fast retraining could scale, or what happens to workers whose jobs are eliminated outright rather than simply changed.
“What Moore didn’t offer was a count of how many Maryland jobs his administration believes are at risk.”
The number behind the worry
The vagueness lands at an awkward moment. A public research effort called the Maryland State Innovation Team estimates that 39.6% of the state’s workforce holds a job in an occupation it classifies as facing high automation risk, the largest share of any state in its analysis.
“39.6% of the state’s workforce holds a job in an occupation it classifies as facing high automation risk.”
The project is careful about what that figure means. It measures whether AI can technically perform the tasks inside a given job, built from 2023 federal occupation data and large language models, not whether an employer will actually cut the position. The team also notes its findings don’t represent the Moore administration’s position.
Even with those caveats, the number is hard to ignore for a governor building a chunk of his economic pitch around Maryland becoming an AI hub. Moore signed a budget last year that included roughly $1.6 billion in new taxes and fees, and when Spotlight on Maryland asked him the same day whether he’d rule out more increases for the 2027 legislative session, he declined to make that commitment.
What the state has actually funded so far
Moore’s office points to a handful of smaller programs as evidence of action:
- A $4 million investment, administered through the Maryland Department of Labor, meant to prepare workers, employers, and community organizations for an AI-driven economy.
- A $1.23 million grant awarded in July through the Lighthouse Industries Upskilling and Reskilling Program, expected to train roughly 600 people across life sciences, technology, aerospace, defense and manufacturing.
- Maryland’s membership in RAISE US, a nonprofit building workforce systems for an AI economy. Moore, in his role as chair of the National Governors Association, is helping lead a related push expected to produce a roadmap on AI and the future of work in November.
The administration’s own 2025 AI roadmap called for an analysis of which Maryland industries and jobs are most exposed to automation and set a target of December 2025 for broader workforce recommendations. There’s no public indication that deadline was met.
The questions his office didn’t answer
Spotlight on Maryland followed up on Sept. 8 with two direct questions for the governor’s office: whether Moore can guarantee the state’s AI push won’t cost residents their jobs, and how much taxpayer money he’s willing to spend chasing AI-hub status.
As of Spotlight on Maryland’s report, the governor’s office had not responded to either one.
A familiar balancing act, playing out at the state level
Moore’s pitch, capture the upside of AI while putting guardrails around the downside, isn’t unique to Annapolis. President Donald Trump has framed AI as a competition the United States has to win, and his administration’s AI Action Plan calls for expanded skills training, continued labor-market measurement and new approaches to retraining workers.
Geoffrey Hinton, the computer scientist often called the “Godfather of AI,” has been more direct about the stakes than either government. He argues leaders should be far more concerned with whether “society will survive it” amid AI-driven mass unemployment than they currently are.
Cybersecurity clinics, upskilling grants and a subcabinet studying “responsible” AI use are the kind of programs governors reach for when a technology is moving faster than policy can keep up. Whether they add up to real protection for the roughly 4 in 10 Maryland workers in jobs AI could plausibly reshape is still an open question. For now, so is whether the governor plans to answer it.
“Whether they add up to real protection for the roughly 4 in 10 Maryland workers in jobs AI could plausibly reshape is still an open question.”
What to Watch
- Whether Moore’s office responds to Spotlight on Maryland’s unanswered questions on job guarantees and total AI spending.
- The National Governors Association’s roadmap on AI and the future of work, expected in November.
- Whether the state ever produces the broader workforce recommendations its 2025 AI roadmap promised for December of that year.
Sources: This story draws on reporting by Gary Collins for Spotlight on Maryland, a collaboration between Fox45 News (WBFF), WJLA and The Baltimore Sun, including its Sept. 9, 2026 report on Gov. Moore’s AI comments and its Sept. 9-10, 2026 report on Maryland’s $1.6 billion tax and fee package, plus Fox45’s Sept. 13, 2026 “Continuing Coverage” segment revisiting the story. Additional details come from a May 7, 2026 press release from the Office of Governor Wes Moore and from the Maryland State Innovation Team’s published workforce automation research.
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