Nearly 200 economists call for AI guardrails

A group of nearly 200 economists and prominent technology figures has signed a statement urging legislators and industry leaders to move quickly on the economic consequences of AI. Hosted by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab and titled “We Must Act Now,” the statement warns that AI could reshape the economy faster than past technological shifts.

The signatories wrote that “AI may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years” and could drive an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution. They cited risks including large-scale job displacement, alongside potential gains such as higher living standards.

The statement calls on economists, policymakers and technology leaders to build incentives, guardrails and institutions that steer AI toward complementing humans and benefiting society. Signers include 15 Nobel laureates, Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark, OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Meta chief AI scientist Yann LeCun.