Shareholder Robert Litan Proposes Affordable Transition Insurance Plan for the AI Era

Berger Montague, a leading national plaintiff law firm announces that Shareholder Robert Litan has authored “A Detailed, Affordable Plan for Transition Insurance in the AI Era,” a new paper published by the Brookings Institution that lays out a targeted, fully financed plan to help workers whose jobs are displaced by artificial intelligence.

“The AI genie is out of the bottle, and there is no sugarcoating that fact,” said Shareholder Robert Litan. “Workers displaced by AI deserve a safety net that helps them get back on their feet, and this plan provides one at a cost the country can readily afford while preserving the productivity gains AI promises for everyone.”

In the paper, Dr. Litan argues that AI-driven job displacement is a risk worth insuring against even if current fears prove overstated, because private insurers cannot cover a risk that lacks an actuarial history and could strike many workers at once. He proposes three complementary programs: wage loss insurance that would replace 80%, 60%, and 40% of lost earnings over three years for long-tenured displaced workers earning under $250,000 who take new jobs; lifetime training accounts that would cover community college costs and offer income-contingent loans for living expenses; and a first-year, 50% tax credit for employers that hire recent college graduates into jobs paying $40,000 to $100,000.

Dr. Litan recommends raising about $60 billion a year to fund the programs, roughly 0.8% of federal outlays. Rather than taxing AI “tokens” or robots, which he warns would be complex and could slow innovation, he points to options such as a payroll tax on equity compensation or modestly higher taxes on capital. He describes the cost as “the equivalent of an insurance premium paid to avert a self-defeating populist backlash against AI.”

Additional Information

• Read the full paper, “A Detailed, Affordable Plan for Transition Insurance in the AI Era,” on the Brookings Institution website.
• The paper was published October 30, 2026, as part of Brookings’ series on The Economics and Regulation of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies.
• Robert Litan is a Shareholder in Berger Montague’s Antitrust Department and a Nonresident Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is one of the few practicing lawyers with a Ph.D. in economics and previously served in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in the fields of complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played leading roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, DC; and Wilmington, DE.

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