In response to the Census Bureau’s proposed rule to eliminate race and ethnicity questions from the decennial census, Oluwasekemi Odumosu and Teresa Kroeger highlight the consequences for monitoring how AI affects workers and labor markets over time. They provide evidence that the race and ethnicity data collected through the decennial census are a foundational component of the nation’s statistical system, and that eliminating these questions would reduce the quality and consistency of population estimates, survey benchmarks, and other data products that support decision-making across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. At a time when understanding the effects of AI requires more information, not less, Odumosu and Kroeger demonstrate that preserving these data is essential for accurately assessing how the AI transition is unfolding and for responding to its opportunities and challenges.