This is an impressively comprehensive piece! The discussion of gradual disempowerment was especially interesting to me as I’ve mainly been thinking about more sudden ‘AI takeover’ scenarios.
Which of the risks do you think is currently the most neglected by economists/could be most positively impacted by economists?
Hi Rosa, thanks a lot for your comment and your kind words!
Unfortunately, I do not know the answer ot that question. We were unable to develop a comprehensive literature review. - My guess would be that AI x Animals would be exceptionally neglected in economics. For a starting point, I’d check out Treich and Espinosa’s work on Animals in economics (I do not know if they cover AI in any way). - I also would have expected to find more work on Global South perspectives on AI governance and the intersection of transformative AI and macro development economics, but maybe we missed some core papers in that space.
Regarding impacting an area as an economist, it probably depends on whether you work within academia or outside of academia. Within academia, my best guess would be that AI safety ideas get first traction in microeconomic theory. I could imagine work in macro or trade gets more visibility as soon as data comes in that is in line with the predictions made in the theoretical papers.
In terms of impact, I could imagine economists playing a big role in reducing risks from power concentration and gradual disempowerment. AI seems to be an amplifier for inequality and externalities. Both topics have been studied extensively. Hence, insights from these fields could potentially be very helpful in finding solutions.
But I could be completely wrong about all the above.
This is an impressively comprehensive piece! The discussion of gradual disempowerment was especially interesting to me as I’ve mainly been thinking about more sudden ‘AI takeover’ scenarios.
Which of the risks do you think is currently the most neglected by economists/could be most positively impacted by economists?
Hi Rosa, thanks a lot for your comment and your kind words!
Unfortunately, I do not know the answer ot that question. We were unable to develop a comprehensive literature review.
- My guess would be that AI x Animals would be exceptionally neglected in economics. For a starting point, I’d check out Treich and Espinosa’s work on Animals in economics (I do not know if they cover AI in any way).
- I also would have expected to find more work on Global South perspectives on AI governance and the intersection of transformative AI and macro development economics, but maybe we missed some core papers in that space.
Regarding impacting an area as an economist, it probably depends on whether you work within academia or outside of academia. Within academia, my best guess would be that AI safety ideas get first traction in microeconomic theory. I could imagine work in macro or trade gets more visibility as soon as data comes in that is in line with the predictions made in the theoretical papers.
In terms of impact, I could imagine economists playing a big role in reducing risks from power concentration and gradual disempowerment. AI seems to be an amplifier for inequality and externalities. Both topics have been studied extensively. Hence, insights from these fields could potentially be very helpful in finding solutions.
But I could be completely wrong about all the above.