Tech Leaders and Economists Call for AI Guardrails to Protect Workers

Artificial intelligence is transforming the economy, and now is the time to ensure that the technology benefits society, according to a statement signed by more than 200 economists and AI researchers.

Among the signers of the statement are 16 Nobel Laureates, the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, which is hosting the online statement, said in a Monday (July 13) press release.

Other signers, according to the page on which the statement is posted, include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; Greylock Partner and LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman; Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs Executive Chairman Yann LeCun; Khosla Ventures Founder Vinod Khosla; 10 people affiliated with Anthropic; and six affiliated with OpenAI.

The statement reads as follows:

“AI may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years.”

“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.”

“Economists, policymakers and technology leaders must act now to understand the economics of transformative AI and to build the incentives, guardrails and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.”

The statement was organized by four economists: Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab; Ajay Agrawal, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management; Anton Korinek, a professor at the University of Virginia, currently on leave at Anthropic; and Tom Cunningham, a researcher at METR, according to the press release.

Brynjolfsson said in the press release: “We must act now to guide AI to complement humans rather than simply imitate them—and to generate prosperity for the many, not just the few.”

Agrawal said in the release: “Whether rapidly advancing AI broadly elevates global living standards or severely concentrates wealth is not predetermined; it depends on how we choose to rearchitect our political and economic systems today.”

Korinek said in the release: “We cannot improvise our strategy and institutions in the middle of the transformation; waiting for certainty means arriving too late.”

Cunningham said in the release: “It’s the right time for a coordinated effort to bring clarity to a confusing situation.”

For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.