Mass Florida Migration & Growing Fear of AI - Top 3 Takeaways – November 28th, 2023
- On the move to Florida. The more things change the more they stay the same. More people want to come to Florida than to any other state. It’s been true for tourism. And ever since the COVID lockdowns ended it's been true for those looking to permanently change addresses. All throughout the past year it was clear that for the second consecutive year Florida remained number one for net migration. From various reports from moving companies showing more people moving into Florida than any other state, to real-estate reports like Redfin’s that’s shown half of the top ten relocation destinations in the country over the past year have been Florida destinations – there's no doubt what state the most people have been on the move to. The Census has now officially confirmed this. The just released annual U.S. Census Bureau population estimates show Florida’s population grew by over 249,000 residents over the past year, or over 680 per day. Even when accounting for outflows Florida gained population from literally every state and even the District of Columbia. It can be said that literally the entire country has been flocking to Florida. But of course, not all states are flocking to Florida equally. The blue state migration story remains intact. New York and California continued to see hundreds of thousands of its citizens flee its policies. And where were they most likely to flee to? Florida of course. Florida gained a net 70,000 New Yorkers alone over the past year making it easily the top state for relocations into Florida. Next up was California, with New Jersey third, Texas fourth, and a virtual push between Illinois and Pennsylvania for fifth. And of course, a big part of the migration story hasn’t just been about people fleeing to Florida, but also...
- Executives that have taken their businesses with them. According to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission data 86% more companies have moved into Florida than those that have relocated out of it as well. This includes having three of the top ten metros in the country for net business relocations with Jacksonville growing fastest followed by Tampa and Miami. Much like the citizen defections, New York and California were two of the top three states for lost businesses over the past year. What this illustrates is both the strength and the stability of Florida’s growth. During the pandemic when remote work became the norm, Florida’s population boomed when employees had a choice about where they wanted to live. As many companies have moved away from remote work, companies have flowed to where the employees have been going, which of course has most commonly been close to where we call home. And as has often been the case those relocating to Florida have been taking their politics with them which continues to be great news for Republicans. The state’s most recent voter registration changes show Republicans having gained an additional advantage of nearly 300,000 voters net of Democrats year-to-date. The record Republican advantage continues to show Republicans adding to their advantage in traditional strongholds like Collier, Martin and Indian River, while consistent gains are continuing in traditional blue counties like Broward, Dade and Palm Beach. What this continues to illustrate is that while people from literally all 50 states continue to make their way to all parts of Florida, all parts of Florida are continuing to see the political impact of those relocations in what will be hundreds of thousands of first time Republican voters in Florida next year. There are now the fewest Democrats registered to vote in Florida that there have been since 2007 – when Florida’s population was four million people fewer than it is today. That stat tells the political transformation story about as well as any. Speaking of telling stories...Have you read any written by AI recently?
- The more we know, the more we fear AI. Ordinarily with new technologies we’re more inclined to fear them first and adapt to them later. It’s a somewhat natural human reaction. That’s what makes the latest research on our collective perspective on AI so interesting. The more that AI is becoming part of our lives, and the more we’re learning about how AI works, the more we’re collectively fearing the technology. According to the Pew Research Center, in each of the past three years, excitement for the prospect of what AI will bring has dwindled and concern over what the technology will bring has jumped. In 2021 Pew found that that just 37% of Americans were more concerned than excited about the future of AI. A year ago, that rose to 38%. But now in the age of OpenAI, both literally and figuratively, the fear has grown considerably. Most Americans, 52%, are currently more concerned about AI than are excited about it. That compares to 36% who say they’re equally excited and concerned and only 10% who now say that they’re more excited than concerned about where AI is going from here. And where is the fear the largest? In the workplace. Pew asked people questions across 11 different categories of work-related AI decision making, from hiring decisions to job evaluations - whether AI should be involved and in only two, when monitoring an employee’s driving behavior (when using company vehicles), and in tracking attendance, were more of us likely to say yes to AI than not. Somewhat interestingly, in one of the areas believed to be of the biggest benefit to society, healthcare – most Americans don’t want to see it implemented there either. 60% of Americans are uncomfortable with AI being used for diagnosis of a medical malady and treatment options for what ails us. What’s also notable is the majority view of regulation as well. While more Republicans appear willing to trust AI than Democrats, solid majorities of both political persuasions feel that more needs to be done to regulate it. 59% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats say regulation isn’t going far enough to attempt to keep the potentially negative effects of AI at bay. What are we collectively willing to let AI do for us? Household chores. By a margin of 57% to 19% we’d be thrilled to have AI take over those. But on balance the more we know about AI, the more we’ve become inclined to fear AI. To most, this technology represents something different. The fear of the unknown.