More than 200 economists and AI researchers are calling for immediate action in a joint statement. The economic transformation driven by AI could be unprecedented, but the window to prepare is narrow.
The statement is titled "We Must Act Now" and was coordinated by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Its core argument boils down to three claims: AI could become "radically more powerful" over the next decade. That could trigger a transformation "larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame." Economists, policymakers, and technology leaders need to act now to create incentives, guardrails, and institutions.
The list of signatories includes Nobel laureates in economics such as Daron Acemoglu, Joseph Stiglitz, Paul Krugman, and Ben Bernanke, alongside representatives of major AI companies. Jeff Dean of Google, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, OpenAI's Noam Brown and Sarah Friar, and Wojciech Zaremba of the OpenAI Foundation all signed on.
The revolution stays hypothetical for now
"AI capabilities are advancing far faster than our understanding of the economic implications. In that gap lie the greatest opportunities of our era," Brynjolfsson wrote, according to the Stanford Digital Economy Lab's press release. He said action is needed now so that AI "creates prosperity for the many, not just the few."
