Economists warn AI could reshape jobs faster than policy can respond

More than 200 economists, computer scientists and technology leaders signed a warning that artificial intelligence could reshape the economy so quickly that policymakers will struggle to keep up. The statement, titled We Must Act Now: A Statement on AI’s Transformation of the Economy, was organized by Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab and says AI could bring major gains in living standards and productivity, but also large-scale job displacement if institutions are not built fast enough to manage the change.

The letter was organized by Erik Brynjolfsson, Ajay Agrawal, Anton Korinek and Tom Cunningham. The list included 16 Nobel laureates, along with signatories affiliated with Anthropic, Google and OpenAI. The statement argues that both outcomes are possible, and the policy response needs to be in place before the technology moves faster than labor markets and government systems can adapt.

The statement warns that AI could drive an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution, but on a vastly shorter timeline. Anton Korinek said steam, electricity and computers gave societies decades to adapt, but AI may give only a few years. Michael Spence said the scale, scope and speed of AI’s advances create an “all hands on deck” need to steer the technology in beneficial directions. Yoshua Bengio separately argued that societies should make deliberate democratic choices instead of letting market forces alone decide how the technology reshapes work and wealth.

The warning landed as AI investment continues to accelerate. Stanford HAI’s 2026 AI Index said global corporate AI investment more than doubled in 2025, private investment rose 127.5 percent, and private funding accounted for 60 percent of total investment. Stanford said U.S. private AI investment remains far ahead of China’s, underscoring how quickly the technology is being adopted even as the economic evidence base and policy framework still lag behind.

Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab has also launched AI Economic Indicators dashboards to give policymakers, executives and workers timely information on AI’s economic effects.