Nobel economist Acemoglu warns AI could triple unemployment; Mercor has 100k trainers
robleclerc · x · 2026-10-06
On 60 Minutes, Nobel Prize-winning MIT economist Daron Acemoglu warned that unemployment could triple over the next decade if nothing is done about AI's impact on jobs. Rob Leclerc quipped that Acemoglu wins either way: if right, he told you so; if wrong, it's because we acted.
Key points from the report:
- Mercor, a multibillion-dollar company, has assembled 100,000+ freelance domain experts — like music producer Robbie Hiser — to train models on subjects from finance to poetry.
- Trainers don't believe they're automating themselves away; Hiser argues creative work always needs lived experience: "An AI never had a girlfriend break up with it."
- Pew finds nearly 3/4 of Americans fear AI is coming for their jobs; McKinsey estimates AI could force 11 million U.S. workers into new careers by 2035.
Related event: Nobel Laureate Acemoglu Warns AI Could Triple Unemployment in a Decade(3 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- Why didn't Kokotajlo's whistleblow trigger the AGI-safety preference cascade? Coxon tipped it — danfaggella · 2026-10-06
- School is mostly logistics — AI can finally separate learning from pacing — r0ck3t23 · 2026-10-06
- Sendhil Mullainathan's new paper finds 54.4% lower-than-expected mortality — joshgans · 2026-10-06
- Google was the first AI sensor network; OpenAI and Anthropic vie for third — curious_vii · 2026-10-06
- Drosophila brain replication punctures the 'LLM is a lookup table' argument — joshalbrecht · 2026-10-06
- Instinct adds group chat support: one bot plans trips and splits bills for everyone — mon__lim · 2026-10-06