More than 200 economists and artificial intelligence researchers, including 16 Nobel laureates, have signed an open letter warning governments and industry leaders that they must urgently prepare for the economic upheaval AI is set to unleash.
The letter, released this week and organised through Stanford University’s digital economy lab, argues that AI could become dramatically more capable over the next decade, driving change that outpaces even the Industrial Revolution but compressed into a far shorter timeframe.
Signatories cautioned that the shift carries both serious risks, including widespread job losses, and major potential upsides such as a substantial rise in living standards. To manage the transition, the letter calls on governments and companies to build incentives, safeguards and institutions that ensure AI complements human workers rather than simply replacing them.
University of Virginia economist Anton Korinek, who helped organise the initiative, said that policymakers cannot afford to design their response after the disruption has already begun, since waiting for certainty would mean acting too late.
The warning lands amid growing signs that AI is already reshaping the labour market. Amazon cut around 14,000 jobs in October, months after its chief executive said generative AI and automated agents would take over a growing share of roles. In the United States, recent college graduates are already finding it harder to break into the job market.
Source: aljazeera.com