Marketplace Tech With Molly Wood

About 1 in 4 U.S. jobs requires an occupational license, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Licensing requirements differ by state and can apply to everyone from barbers to lawyers. The general idea, of course, is to keep unqualified workers out.But technology, and specifically artificial intelligence, is making inroads. Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, is also author of the new book “The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong.” She told Marketplace’s Stephanie Hughes that in some instances, AI is letting consumers bypass licensed workers altogether. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.Rebecca Haw Allensworth: This has been true for a while, but it’s really become intense now that AI is what it is. You can go on ChatGPT and say something like, write me a contract for funeral services, and ChatGPT will spit out a contract. That has forever been the practice of law, and that’s been limited,