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“The question isn’t whether AI will change the world — it’s whether we’ll change with it.”
— Joe McKenna
A historical constant. Not a prediction.
The question that decides everything downstream.
Only one of these requires a decision. The other is already in motion.
Wait. Jobs displaced. Workers leave the region. The economy gets reshaped without us.
Workers trained before displacement. Employers enabled. New companies built in Northeast Tennessee instead of around it.
There is no neutral. Doing nothing is choosing Path A.
From the classroom, from the workforce data, from employers and educators across Northeast Tennessee.
Northeast Tennessee jobs already highly impacted by AI today.
Observed AI usage data — not a theoretical projection.
Steam, rail, electricity, the internet — every wave took generations to land. AI is unfolding in years, with economic impact on par with the largest transformations in modern history.
AI isn’t a chatbot. Spreadsheets, email, scheduling, design, code, customer service, research — the aperture is every screen, every desk, every digital task.
Studies consistently show novices get 10x productivity gains from AI. Experts get marginal lift. For the first time in modern tech, the leveler favors the people who’ve been behind.
The white-collar careers several generations were told would pay the most — especially coders and computer scientists — sit at the front of the line for change.
AI doesn’t widen the old skills gap — it bridges it, and opens a new one. The question isn’t “can our workers learn it.” It’s “who’s teaching them, and how fast?”
Healthcare, manufacturing, finance, retail — the industries that anchor our region’s economy are all in motion from AI at the same time. None of them is sitting still.
The work that puts food on the table for thousands of NE TN families is being reshaped right now. Some roles will hold their shape. Many won’t.
The same shift that’s reshaping old work is opening new kinds. Roles, skills, and side businesses that didn’t exist a few years ago are common now — and they’re showing up locally, not just on the coasts.
What used to need a team of five — coder, designer, marketer, ops, support — one person with AI can now do. The barrier to launching a business in our region is far lower than it used to be.
Northeast Tennessee’s colleges and training programs are running real AI curriculum today. But the students arriving in those classrooms are often more fluent than the faculty teaching them.
AI lowers barriers for our disabled, recovering, and marginalized neighbors — people who’ve sat outside the workforce for reasons that AI now helps them work around. Miss this and we miss a generation.
AI’s impact reaches every segment of the workforce. We can’t pick islands to focus on the way workforce development usually does.
These are the findings. The rest of this presentation is the proof.
Our community isn't behind — it is three years ahead.
Special thanks to Bob Cantler at the JC Chamber of Commerce.
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Three years in. The one thing that engages and empowers our entire workforce — including the people we’ve historically left out.
“Show me my quarterly reports for the first quarter.”
We didn’t just believe AI was changing work in our region. We measured it.
workers in Northeast Tennessee are in jobs where AI is already doing part of the work
Based on observed AI usage data, not theoretical projections
Each block is an occupation. Size = number of local workers. Color = how much AI is observed doing that work right now.
AI isn't just changing individual jobs — it's transforming entire sectors. Here's how each industry in the region is being affected.
Employment from Census County Business Patterns. AI exposure from Felten AIIE. Adoption rates from Census Business Trends Survey.
Ranked by total worker impact — the number of people in each role multiplied by how much AI is already being used in that work.
Blue shows theoretical AI capability by sector. Red shows observed AI activity from real usage data.
The gap between blue and red represents untapped AI potential — and adoption is accelerating.
In 2025 alone, the share of occupations with meaningful AI usage grew from 36% to 49%. Overall, AI adoption among workers doubled in just two years.
Workforce development asks one question: where are the jobs? Here are four places the work is already growing in our region — and where the long-term investment belongs.
“I don’t like the way AI writes.”
“I can’t trust it to review medical records as well as I can.”
“AI isn’t as creative as I am.”
The point isn’t for AI to be better than you. It’s to remove your weaknesses.
It’s not about making you better at what you do. It’s about making you good at what you don’t.
A CEO can’t plan without seeing what AI is doing to the market.
A supervisor can’t staff a team without seeing what AI is doing to the work.
These pillars align with the U.S. Department of Labor's AI Literacy Framework, released February 2026.
Five pillars to address. Four steps to execute on each — done holistically, at the same time, not in sequence.
Northeast Tennessee's higher education and workforce training institutions aren't planning an AI curriculum — they're running one. Four organizations. One shared mission. Real students. Real skills. Real employers.
To the Northeast Tennessee Local Workforce Development Board — thank you for inviting us into this conversation. The work ahead is too big for any of us alone, and we’re honored to share what we’ve learned.
We welcome your wisdom, guidance, direction, and expertise.
Help us fund the work that’s already moving the region forward.
Help us touch as many people as we can.
