Nobel-winning economist Daron Acemoglu on AI agents, hiring sprees, and app usability

Daron Acemoglu, awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics, published a paper before his win estimating AI would only modestly boost US productivity and not eliminate human work. Two years later, his cautious view remains marginal amid rising fears of AI-driven job loss, with politicians like Senator Bernie Sanders and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer proposing taxes on corporate AI use. Acemoglu identifies three key developments to watch: AI agents, which companies pitch as worker replacements but he sees as augmentation tools; the hiring of in-house economists by AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind, which he worries may shape research to favor corporate interests; and the lack of user-friendly AI apps akin to PowerPoint or Word, which he argues limits productivity gains. He notes conflicting evidence—no major employment effects yet, but growing public skepticism—and emphasizes uncertainty beneath confident rhetoric.