Daron Acemoglu

“better outcomes than this ceaseless race to replace workers.”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu said the right investments and policy framework would help produce better outcomes than a race to replace workers.

“AI models are still developing and they are not widely adopted for many occupations or tasks yet. So some of the displacement effects, as of now, may be exaggerated,”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu said the limited number of occupation-specific AI models remains a factor skewing data on job impacts.

“Ultimately, given that the U.S. labor market is relatively flexible and has a fairly weak social safety net, I expect the impact on wages to be bigger than those on employment,”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu argued that given the flexible U.S. labor market and weak social safety net, wage impacts from AI may be larger than employment impacts.

“the right investments from the tech sector and the right policy framework,”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu said a move toward pro-worker AI would require the right investments from the tech sector and the right policy framework.

“mounting evidence that there is some impact on entry-level jobs”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu said there is mounting evidence of AI's impact on entry-level jobs, even without convincing evidence yet for broader wage effects.

“The most important thing is that AI does not need to be a pure automation technology,”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu emphasized that AI does not need to be purely an automation technology and can also create new tasks and expertise for workers.

“that's not the direction we are heading in.”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu conceded that the current direction is not toward pro-worker AI.

“If AI continues to be developed as an automation technology (most notably under the lodestar of AGI), there will be more impacts. Right now we don't have many easy to use applications relevant for a large number of tasks/industries. Once these are developed, the labor market effects will be multiplied,”

Daron Acemoglu · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Acemoglu warned that if AI continues as an automation technology, labor market effects will multiply once easy-to-use applications are developed for many industries.