More than 200 researchers and economists, including 15 Nobel laureates and experts from prominent artificial intelligence firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, have issued a joint statement. They are urging governments and technology leaders to promptly develop policies and establish institutions to manage the economic consequences of AI.
The statement, released on Monday, cautioned that AI has the potential to trigger an economic transformation even more profound than the Industrial Revolution. However, this shift is expected to occur within a "vastly shorter" timeframe, raising critical questions for the workforce, businesses, and public sector organizations.
The signatories emphasized the necessity for more in-depth research into AI's economic effects. They also called for the immediate creation of policies and institutional frameworks designed to ensure that the technology benefits society while effectively navigating potential risks, such as widespread job displacement.
Anton Korinek, a professor at the University of Virginia and a member of Anthropic's economic research team, highlighted the urgency. "Steam, electricity, and computers each gave societies decades to adapt. AI may give us only a few years," Korinek stated. He added, "We cannot improvise our strategy and institutions in the middle of the transformation; waiting for certainty means arriving too late."
Korinek, who joined Anthropic's economic research team in March, spearheaded this initiative alongside fellow economists Erik Brynjolfsson, Ajay Agrawal, and Tom Cunningham. Notable signatories include Sarah Friar, OpenAI's finance chief; Jeff Dean, Google DeepMind's Chief Scientist; and Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic. Several members of the economics research team at the Claude chatbot maker also signed. Additionally, Nobel laureates Michael Spence, Daron Acemoglu, and Simon Johnson were among the distinguished signatories.
