--- title: "Sixteen Nobel-Winning Economists Warn That Major AI Job Losses Are Coming" description: "Over 200 economists, researchers and industry executives, including sixteen Nobel Prize winners, signed an [urgent letter]() warning that AI could radically transform the economy at an unprecedented pace and scale — and that policymakers and governments need to move to…" date: "2026-07-15" modified: "2026-07-15" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/economists-warning-ai-job-losses" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "economy" - "jobs" --- # Sixteen Nobel-Winning Economists Warn That Major AI Job Losses Are Coming ![A composite photo illustration of a line of laid off workers holding boxes of their personal belongings.]() *Illustration by Tag Hartman-Simkins / Futurism. Source: Shutterstock* Over 200 economists, researchers and industry executives, including sixteen Nobel Prize winners, signed an [urgent letter]() warning that AI could radically transform the economy at an unprecedented pace and scale — and that policymakers and governments need to move to mitigate the fallout. Titled "We Must Act Now," the letter is brief. It predicts that "AI may become radically more powerful over the next ten years," and that acceleration in the tech's capabilities "could drive an unprecedented transformation of our economy, larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame." While possible risks include "large-scale job displacement," there may also be "opportunities," the letter suggests, citing "major gains in living standards." But neither the risks nor the benefits of AI can be harnessed if leaders across policy, government, and industry don't act quickly to understand the scale of AI's potential impact on the workforce. "Economists, policymakers and technology leaders must act now to understand the economics of transformative AI," the letter declares, "and to build the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society." Signees include Nobel-winning Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, New York University economist and Nobel winner Michael Spence, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, former OpenAI [researcher-turned-critic]() Zoë Hitzig, current OpenAI Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar, and Anthropic cofounder Jack Clark, among many others. That said, despite the many big names who signed on, the letter doesn't actually propose any solutions to the issues it raises. It's more of a general awareness campaign about the scale of the problem society is facing. But as the [*New York Times*]() noted, perhaps the most notable thing about the letter is the intellectual breadth among signees, from AI optimists who have long predicted radical change, to [skeptics]() who are less convinced of AI's capacity to transform labor and the economy. "There's been a notable change in the profession," Stanford economist Erik Brynjolfsson, who helped organize the statement, told the *NYT*. "I still see a big gap there, a big mismatch, and I’m kind of worried that we're not going to be ready for the tsunami that's coming." "If you look at what robots did in the manufacturing sector, if AI does something equivalent in a more compressed time period, that would be really disruptive, really costly for people's livelihood," added Acemoglu, a noted skeptic. We're already seeing some major shifts in the workforce, regardless of whether AI is actually replacing jobs or being used as a scapegoat. It's a difficult time to be an [early-career job seeker](), and the tech industry in particular has already seen mass layoffs due to [AI-focused restructurings](). One [recent report ]()found that AI may be pushing older workers out of jobs.Some reports, meanwhile, have even contended that AI has had [*no* substantive impact]() on jobs so far. But before AI has the chance to wreak havoc in the job market — should that future come to pass — the experts are clear: it's not the time to be caught on our back foot. **More on AI and jobs:** *[Economists Starting to Admit They May Have Been Wrong About AI Never Replacing Human Jobs]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()