A joint statement issued on July 13 by more than 200 researchers, including 16 Nobel Prize-winning economists, expresses deep concern over the potential economic and social impacts of artificial intelligence.
The statement asserts that AI will undergo a dramatic leap in capabilities over the next ten years, leading to economic transformations that could "surpass the impact of the Industrial Revolution in an extremely short period." While such changes may raise living standards, the signatories warn of "the risk of large-scale job displacement."
The initiative was spearheaded by Stanford University professor Erik Brynjolfsson, who called for immediate action and argued that AI should be steered to augment human abilities rather than mimic them, in order to promote shared prosperity rather than benefiting only a few.
Notable signatories include Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University, Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and economist Paul Krugman. Business figures such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and numerous researchers from OpenAI and Google also signed the statement.
The statement urges economists, policymakers, and business leaders to advance research into AI's economic effects and to establish relevant policies and regulations. It does not, however, propose specific measures or directions.
Anton Korinek, a professor at the University of Virginia who also works at Anthropic, compared the current situation to historical technological shifts. He noted that steam engines, electricity, and computers took decades to diffuse, but AI may have only a few years, necessitating swift policy responses.