Many of the world’s smartest people warned governments, companies and people on Monday that they must be prepared for the profound impact that artificial intelligence will have on the economy.
More than 200 economists, researchers and technology leaders said artificial intelligence could transform the economy for better or worse, fueling risks such as “large-scale job displacement.”
In a statement, the group said AI could become more powerful over the course of a decade, driving unprecedented economic transformation that could bring drawbacks but also opportunities such as “significant improvements in living standards.”
“We must act now to make AI complement humans rather than just imitate them – and to create prosperity for the many, not just the few,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, in a separate statement.
Brynjolfsson is among prominent people who signed the statement, titled “We Must Act Now,” to call on economists, policymakers and technology leaders to better understand how AI will transform the economy.
The group is pushing for the creation of more guardrails, incentives and institutions to “steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.”
Signatories to the statement included Nobel laureates, AI researchers and technology leaders from California venture capital firms and companies such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.
The technology leaders included Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO; Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn; Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist; Yann LeCun, a computer scientist; and Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic. Economists from Harvard, Stanford, MIT and other renowned universities were also on the list.
The statement underscores concerns about recent advances in technology as some of the world’s largest companies compete with China and other countries for dominance in AI competition.
Companies are racing head-to-head, introducing increasingly powerful AI tools that enable people to quickly generate text, code, images, videos and other content.
They market the tools as ways to help workers with tedious tasks. But increasing automation has also raised concerns about whether AI will eliminate certain jobs in software development, customer service, entertainment and other fields.
AI also poses security risks. AI companies, including ChatGPT maker OpenAI, are facing lawsuits over whether they should be held accountable when people use AI to harm themselves or others.
Public resistance to AI has increased.
Over the weekend in San Francisco, hundreds of protesters marched to the offices of OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind with large signs reading “Stop the AI Race.”
Last week, Meta paused a new AI tool for generating images based on public Instagram accounts after users complained that people’s likeness could be used without their consent. Talent agencies, union representatives and others in Hollywood also criticized the new AI feature and put pressure on Meta to disable it.
When it comes to layoffs, tech executives cited AI investments and the efficiencies gained from the technology as reasons for the job cuts.
However, some observers expressed skepticism that AI was to blame, pointing to other factors such as overstaffing and cost-cutting efforts.
The conflicting views have painted a murky picture of how AI will impact the job market. Companies are also increasingly experimenting with AI in online dating and social networks, raising questions about how technology will impact human interaction.
As tech companies pour billions of dollars into building data centers, the investments could create jobs, but AI could put a strain on vital resources like electricity and water. Voters in some California cities have banned or placed a moratorium on data centers that house computer equipment used to run online services.
Many Americans believe AI will have a negative impact on society, the Pew Research Center found this year. About 40% of U.S. adults say AI will have a negative impact on society in the next 20 years. About 31% think it will be equally negative and positive, while others are unsure or predict it will be positive.
Economists and researchers are still trying to better understand how AI impacts society as increasingly powerful tools are released publicly.
“We are moving in a fog and it is exceedingly difficult to predict what will happen next,” Tom Cunningham, a researcher at Model Evaluation and Threat Research, a nonprofit that analyzes the potential risks of AI, said in a statement. “It is the right time for a coordinated effort to bring clarity to a confusing situation.”
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-07-14/economists-tech-leaders-warn-ai-could-bring-large-scale-job-displacement-other-risks
