World in Great Danger, 200 Experts Including Nobel Laureates Sound Warning on AI's Economic Risks

More than 200 researchers and economists, including 15 Nobel laureates, are urging governments to act on the potential economic risks of artificial intelligence. They argue that AI is driving an economic transformation far greater and faster than the Industrial Revolution, leaving societies with only a few years to adapt rather than decades. Professor Anton Korinek from the University of Virginia stated that while steam, electricity, and computers allowed decades for adaptation, AI might only provide a few years. The statement calls for deeper research into the economic impact of AI and urges governments to start building the necessary policies and institutions to ensure the benefits are shared by society and to address the risk of large-scale job losses. Korinek added that strategies and institutions cannot be improvised mid-transformation, as waiting for certainty means it will be too late. The initiative was led by Korinek alongside the economic research team at Anthropic, as well as economists Erik Brynjolfsson, Ajay Agrawal, and Tom Cunningham. Other signatories include OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, Google DeepMind Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, and the economic research team behind the chatbot Claude. Nobel laureates Michael Spence, Daron Acemoglu, and Simon Johnson also endorsed the proposal.