All posts tagged: economist

Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist

Three things in AI to watch, according to a Nobel-winning economist

Published by skeptic

Two years later, Acemoglu’s measured take has not caught on. Chatter about an AI jobs apocalypse pops up everywhere from Senator Bernie Sanders’s rallies to conversations I overhear in line at the grocery store. Some previously skeptical economists have gotten more open to the idea that something seismic could be coming with AI. A California gubernatorial candidate said last week that he wants to tax corporate AI use and pay victims of “AI-driven layoffs.”  On the one hand, the data is still on Acemoglu’s side; studies repeatedly find that AI is not affecting employment rates or layoffs. But the technology has advanced quite a bit since his cautious predictions. I spoke with him to understand if any of the latest developments in AI have changed his thesis, and to find out what does worry him these days if not imminent AGI. AI agents One of the biggest technical leaps in AI since Acemoglu’s paper has been agentic AI, or tools that can go beyond chatbots and operate on their own to complete the goal you …

former top Trump White House economist

former top Trump White House economist

Published by Sam Flores

In 1973, OPEC proclaimed an oil embargo on the U.S. for its decision to resupply the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur war. The embargo lasted until March 1974, and during this time oil prices quadrupled. To control supply, the federal government under Nixon rationed oil, by state, to 1972 levels. By February 1974, it was estimated by the American Automobile Association that 20% of gas stations had no fuel to sell. The decade’s second energy crisis was in 1979, in the wake of the Iranian Revolution. Photo: AP The U.S. economy has been remarkably resilient lately, confounding forecasters who have insisted we’re due for a bust after nearly six years of expansion since the body blow from Covid. So when will the wheels finally come off? There’s no way to know, former top White House economist Tyler Goodspeed says in a new book that will likely confound the legion of professional forecasters who regularly predict impending doom. “Recessions are fundamentally unforecastable,” Goodspeed said in an interview about the book, “Recession: The Real Reasons Economies …

Economist Warns That the Poor Will Bear the Brunt of AI’s Effects on the Job Market

Economist Warns That the Poor Will Bear the Brunt of AI’s Effects on the Job Market

Published by José Betancourt

Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Getty Images While tech executives wax poetic about AI ushering in four-day workweeks and liberation from labor, economics guru Robert Reich is cutting through the drivel. In an ominous new essay, the former secretary of labor warns that those shortened weeks will also come with much shorter paychecks — leaving the working class scrambling for crumbs in order to survive. The US economy is growing nicely, Reich notes, while the stock market is doing gangbusters. But as for the stuff that really counts for most Americans? It’s “sh*tty,” the plainspoken wonk asserts. And as AI continues to rankle the job market, Reich says the poor and working class will increasingly bear the brunt. To set up his argument, Reich briefly considers comments from business tycoons like Zoom’s Eric Yuan and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, who argue that four- and even three-day work weeks will become the norm thanks to new automation tools. “All of this is pure rubbish,” Reich writes. “Here’s the truth: The four-day workweek will most …

James Galbraith, economist: 'The Fed is an agency created by Congress, controlled by it, and accountable to it'

James Galbraith, economist: 'The Fed is an agency created by Congress, controlled by it, and accountable to it'

Published by Sam Flores

The US inflation decline did not result from action by the Federal Reserve and a reduction in interest rates would therefore be justified, said the University of Texas professor in an interview with Le Monde. However, in his view, Trump should’ve let the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress pressure the central bank. Source link