Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the global economy faster than any technology in history, and policymakers are not moving quickly enough to prepare.
That is the core message of a new statement titled "We Must Act Now," signed by nearly 200 prominent economists, researchers, and tech industry leaders. The coalition warns that without immediate action, society risks severe short-term economic disruption, even if the long-term outcomes prove beneficial.
A Unprecedented Coalition
The statement boasts an unusually broad and heavyweight list of signatories. It includes 15 Nobel laureates, the chief economists of leading AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic, and major industry figures such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla.
Notably, the list also features prominent economists who have historically been skeptical of rapid AI disruption, including MIT professors Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2024. Their participation signals a meaningful shift in the economic consensus.
The Core Warning: A Compressed Industrial Revolution
The statement cautions that AI could become "radically more powerful over the next 10 years." While the technology promises major gains in living standards and productivity, it also carries the risk of large-scale job displacement.
The authors compare the coming shift to the Industrial Revolution, but with a critical difference: it is unfolding over a "vastly shorter time frame." While historical technological shifts (like the advent of steam power or the personal computer) ultimately created more jobs than they destroyed, the short-term transition could be highly disruptive. Millions of white-collar workers could be displaced before new roles emerge, and current safety nets, such as unemployment insurance, are ill-equipped to handle such a rapid influx.
The Preparedness Gap
Erik Brynjolfsson, a Stanford economist who helped organize the statement, highlighted a dangerous disconnect between the speed of AI development and the readiness of institutions.
"I still see a big gap there, a big mismatch, and I’m kind of worried that we’re not going to be ready for the tsunami that’s coming," Brynjolfsson noted.
Even skeptics like Acemoglu, who doubt AI will be as instantly revolutionary as Silicon Valley predicts, acknowledge that recent advances have heightened the risk of significant job losses. He advocates for a shift in focus: AI labs should prioritize developing tools that augment human labor rather than outright replace it.
What Needs to Happen Next?
While the statement does not lay out specific policy prescriptions, it issues a clear call to action for economists, policymakers, and industry leaders to:
- Act immediately to understand the economics of transformative AI.
- Design policies and guardrails that steer AI development in a direction that complements human workers and benefits society as a whole.
- Develop better data and measurement tools to track AI’s real-time spread and impact, as the current lack of reliable data is hindering effective research and policy-making.
The message is clear: the long-term future of AI may be bright, but navigating the short-term turbulence will require unprecedented foresight and proactive governance.