SAN FRANCISCO (AP) 鈥� Hundreds of economists say in an open letter that institutions 鈥渕ust act now鈥� to address how 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 including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI.
鈥淎I may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years,鈥� says the letter organized by Stanford University’s digital economy lab. 鈥淭his 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.鈥�
The letter, which has only four sentences, says leaders must 鈥渂uild the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.鈥�
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.
Computer scientist and AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio was among the signatories and said in a separate statement that based on the trajectory of AI development, 鈥渋t is highly plausible that AI will drastically transform our economies.鈥�
鈥淲e must be intentional and make collective, democratic choices, rather than letting market forces play out and risking leaving most citizens behind,鈥� wrote Bengio, a professor at the University of Montreal.
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