Hundreds of economists urge policymakers and tech leaders to act on AI job displacement risks

Hundreds of economics and artificial intelligence researchers warned Monday that institutions must begin preparing for the potential economic upheaval AI could unleash, while putting many jobs at risk. The open letter, signed by Nobel laureates, top computer scientists and technology executives, including from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic, said policymakers “must act now” to address the...

Hundreds of economists say in an open letter that institutions “must act now” to address how artificial intelligence could transform the economy.

Hundreds of well-known economists and tech leaders including from companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Google signed a letter urging action now so AI "complements humans and benefits society."

Over 200 global experts have signed a letter urging immediate action on AI's economic impact. They caution that artificial intelligence could cause widespread job displacement within a decade. This transformation is expected to be larger than the Industrial Revolution but unfold much faster. Policymakers and technology leaders must now build necessary guardrails and incentives. The goal is to steer AI towards complementing humans and benefiting society broadly.

AI could become “radically” more powerful over the next 10 years, according to a letter titled “We Must Act Now”, which has been signed by more than 200 economists, Nobel laureates, and industry leaders. This phenomenon is said to transform world economies in an unprecedented manner, touted to be larger than the Industrial Revolution. However, this change is predicted to unfold over a significantly shorter period of time. This rapid transformation poses significant risks, the statement notes. Among other risks, AI’s unprecedented transformation of economies is said to cause “large-scale job displacements”.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Hundreds of economists say in an open letter that institutions "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. "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." 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," 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. Read more of this story at Slashdot.