Over 200 signatories, including 16 Nobel winners, back Stanford AI letter
More than 200 economists and AI researchers, including 16 Nobel laureates, signed an open letter Monday organized by Stanford University’s digital economy lab, warning that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence could cause large-scale job displacement and demanding that policymakers “must act now.”
The four-sentence letter, released July 13, says AI may become “radically more powerful over the next 10 years” and could drive an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame. It presents both risks, including large-scale job displacement, and opportunities such as major gains in living standards.
The letter calls on leaders to “build the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.” The Stanford lab said the letter has so far been signed by more than 200 economists and AI researchers, including 16 Nobel Prize winners, along with executives from tech companies including Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI.