Meta President Says US Needs New Workforce For AI, Responds to Landmark Lawsuit

Meta President and Vice Chairman Dina Powell McCormick declared the United States needs a “new workforce” under AI, following two massive court losses for her company.

While speaking at the Axios AI+DC Summit 2026 on Wednesday, McCormick, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, declared the US will soon require a new “work force.”

“We need a whole new workforce,” McCormick said, arguing that industries will need to pivot more towards AI.

She said half a million electricians will be needed just to build infrastructure.

“We talk about it as the workforce of America because if you’re competing on behalf of America, these are the real heroes that are building the very infrastructure that will help us win,” McCormick said.

The Meta head was also asked by Axios cofounder Mike Allen about the then-fresh verdict in a Los Angeles trial, where a 20-year-old woman was suing multiple social media companies, alleging their platforms were purposefully addictive and deteriorated her mental condition when she was a minor.

After 44 hours of deliberation across nine days, 12 jurors found Meta and YouTube liable and they were ordered to pay $3 million, which Meta was ordered to pay 70% of. Before going to trial, both TikTok and Snap reached settlements in their cases.

The case is one of numerous across the country. It also follows another major loss for Meta in New Mexico where the state’s attorney general launched a lawsuit, accusing Meta of not providing proper protections for minors and of creating a “breeding ground” for predators. An investigation by the attorney general with fake minor accounts eventually led to three arrests.

Meta also lost that $375 million suit. The two fresh losses are both being appealed by Meta, but they could spell a shaky future for the social media company if other coming lawsuits play out in similar fashion.

“This is the second time in two days that a jury has found against Metta yesterday in New Mexico… [they] ordered to pay $375 million over child safety violations. That sounds bad,” Allen said on Wednesday.

“As a mom, this is really important to me, and very personal. I see firsthand just how hard the company is trying to ensure that there’s not harmful content, to ensure we’re empowering parents to the best of our ability, and it’s something that I watch being focused on every single day. We respectfully disagree with that decision, and we’re appealing, but I think back to people, not products,” McCormick said. “It’s something that probably consumes the leadership’s time in a massive percentage every single day.”

“This seems bad for business,” Allen replied.

“You know, I think more important than business, I think that as a mom, I see that it can be, you know, something that is a huge worry for parents and we really recognize that,” McCormick said, adding the company is always looking for “creative” to bring more protections for minors onto the platform.

Allen asked if the back-to-back verdicts could be a sign of a “changing tide” for social media companies.

“It’s hard for me to say since it just happened in the last 10 minutes, but I know it’s something that we’re going to keep working hard and try to protect young people on our platform,” Powell said.

Watch above via CSPAN.

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