Researchers warn AI could disrupt jobs faster than society can adapt

More than 200 researchers and economists and 15 Nobel laureates urged governments and technology leaders to build policies and institutions before AI’s economic shock outran public response. Artificial intelligence could reshape the economy on a scale larger than the Industrial Revolution, but in a much shorter window, leaving workers, companies and public institutions with little time to adapt if leaders wait for more certainty.

The statement, titled We Must Act Now: A Statement on AI’s Transformation of the Economy, was organized by Erik Brynjolfsson, Ajay Agrawal, Anton Korinek and Tom Cunningham. It called for deeper research into AI’s effects on jobs, wages, productivity and bargaining power, and pressed policymakers to start building the institutional framework now rather than improvising after layoffs, wage pressure and market concentration have already spread. The organizers’ release counted 16 Nobel laureates among the signatories, while the Reuters tally was 15.

Korinek, a University of Virginia professor on leave at Anthropic, said: "Steam, electricity, and computers each gave societies decades to adapt. AI may give us only a few years." He and Era Dabla-Norris of the IMF argued in February that the uncertainty around AI’s evolution requires scenario planning and policy frameworks designed for multiple possible futures, not a single forecast.

AI could rapidly raise living standards or concentrate wealth, depending on policy choices. If governments do not move first, the gains from automation and faster decision-making could flow to a narrow set of firms and investors while displaced workers absorb the costs. The group is pressing for policy tools that can cushion large-scale job displacement, support retraining and make sure AI’s benefits are shared more broadly.