Economists, tech leaders warn AI could bring ‘large-scale job displacement’ and other risks

Many of the smartest people in the world warned governments, companies and people Monday that they need to be ready for the deep impact that artificial intelligence is going to have on the economy.

More than 200 economists, researchers and tech leaders said artificial intelligence could transform the economy for the better and for worse and fuel risks including “large-scale job displacement.”

In a statement, the group said AI could become more powerful over a decade, driving an unprecedented economic transformation that could bring downsides but also opportunities such as “major gains in living standards.”

“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,” said Erik Brynjolfsson, a Stanford University professor and director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, in a separate statement.

Brynjolfsson is among the prominent individuals who signed the statement titled “We Must Act Now” to urge economists, policymakers and tech 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.”

Among those who signed the statement were Nobel laureates, AI researchers and tech leaders from California venture capital firms and companies including Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.

The tech leaders included Eric Schmidt, former Google chief executive; Reid Hoffman, a LinkedIn co-founder; Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist; Yann LeCun, a computer scientist; and Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic. Economists from Harvard, Stanford, MIT and other prominent universities were also on the list.

The statement highlights some of the anxiety surrounding the latest advancements in technology as some of the world’s largest companies race to compete with China and other countries to dominate the AI race.

Companies are going head-to-head with one another, rolling out more powerful AI tools that allow people to quickly generate text, code, images, videos and other content.

They’re marketing the tools as ways to help workers with tedious tasks. The rise in automation, though, has also raised concerns about whether AI will wipe out certain jobs in software engineering, customer service, entertainment and other areas.

AI also poses safety risks. AI companies including ChatGPT maker OpenAI are facing lawsuits over whether they should be held responsible when people use AI to harm themselves or others.

Public backlash against AI has been growing.

Over the weekend in San Francisco, hundreds of protesters holding large signs that said, “Stop the AI race,” marched to the offices of OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind.

Last week, Meta paused a new AI tool to generate images based on public Instagram accounts after users complained that people’s likeness could be used without their consent. Talent agencies, union officials and others in Hollywood also criticized the new AI feature, putting pressure on Meta to disable it.

During layoffs, tech executives have cited AI investments and efficiency gained from the technology as reasons for job cuts.

But some observers have expressed skepticism that AI is to blame, pointing to other factors such as over-hiring and efforts to cut costs.

The conflicting views have painted a murky picture of how AI will affect the job market. Companies are also experimenting more with AI in online dating and social networking, raising questions about how technology will affect human interaction.

As tech companies pour billions of dollars into building data centers, the investments could create jobs, but AI could strain vital resources such as electricity and water. Voters in some California cities have banned or placed moratoriums on data centers, which house computer equipment to power online services.

Many Americans expect AI to have a negative impact on society, the Pew Research Center found this year. Roughly 40% of U.S. adults say AI will have a negative effect on society over the next 20 years. Roughly 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 is affecting society as more powerful tools are released publicly.

“We are driving in the fog, and it is extraordinarily difficult to anticipate what will happen next,” said Tom Cunningham, a researcher at Model Evaluation and Threat Research, a nonprofit that analyzes AI’s potential risks, in a statement. “It’s the right time for a coordinated effort to bring clarity to a confusing situation.”