Over 200 Economists Say 'We Must Act Now' On AI's Economic Impact
- Reference: 0184446682
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/26/07/13/2210232/over-200-economists-say-we-must-act-now-on-ais-economic-impact
- Source link:
> Hundreds of economists say in an [1]open letter that institutions " [2]must act now" to address how artificial intelligence could transform the economy and could put many people out of work. The statement released Monday was signed by top economists, along with computer scientists and some executives at tech companies including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI.
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> "AI may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years," says the letter organized by Stanford University's digital economy lab. "This could drive an unprecedented transformation of our economy, larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame. It could bring risks, including large-scale job displacement, as well as opportunities such as major gains in living standards."
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> The letter, which has only four sentences, says leaders must "build the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society." The Stanford lab says the letter has so far been signed by more than 200 economists and AI researchers, including 16 winners of a Nobel Prize.
"We must be intentional and make collective, democratic choices, rather than letting market forces play out and risking leaving most citizens behind," [3]wrote computer scientist and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio, who was also among the signatories. He said it "it is highly plausible that AI will drastically transform our economies."
Other signatories include Google CEO Eric Schmidt, LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, and Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz, Daron Acemonglu, and Simon Johnson.
[1] https://www.wemustactnow.ai/
[2] https://apnews.com/article/ai-must-act-now-job-displacement-783469467e0df1463df44518f33295ee
[3] https://x.com/Yoshua_Bengio/status/2076675417038073967
Why? (Score:1)
Another couple of months and if you're an economist, you won't be able to get a job, except as a fast-food restaurant janitor.
Reduced Work Week (Score:2)
I've posted this here several times in hopes of sparking a clue. Here is a graph and explanation of the US workweek from 1860 to 1940, when it declined from 60 hours, to 48 hours, and the today's 40 hours...
[1]https://www.scry.llc/2024/12/2... [scry.llc]
Here is the corresponding Cost Of Information theory...
[2]https://www.scry.llc/2025/09/1... [scry.llc]
You can describe the economic theory of equilibrium with two linear equations which describe the optimum balance of production vs consumption over time as the rate of productivity ris
[1] https://www.scry.llc/2024/12/27/work-week/
[2] https://www.scry.llc/2025/09/16/cost-of-information/
LLM output is Grey Goo and Ecophagy. (Score:2)
LLMs should not be able to generate output from internet context and any generated output should definitely not be published on the internet (or anywhere).
The parable of nanobots/nanites and grey goo must not have been acknowledged by those idiots publishing this dross.
Weasel words (Score:2)
"AI may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years,"
Or the bubble could burst, with [1]companies already realizing that AI costs more than the employees it replaced. [forbes.com]
"This could drive an unprecedented transformation of our economy, larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame."
Or the bubble could burst, with companies already realizing that AI costs more than the employees it replaced.
"It could bring risks, including large-scale job displacement, as well as op
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemmagreen/2026/07/02/ai-costs-more-than-the-people-it-replaced/
Not with this administration (Score:2)
If AI were compelled to pay royalties on the copyrighted data they trained on, it might slow down a little. But not enough.
This administration is pouring gasoline on the fire because they WANT a roaring stock market and a weaker, more insecure middle class. There's a lot of 1% money that's tied up in the stock market, and the owners would love nothing more than a home foreclosure spree to shift into.
If you're not convinced, why are all the AI people building impregnable bunkers?