Economists working on AI grew 10-30x, yet the field is 'disappointing so far'

soumitrashukla9 · x · 2026-10-25

Jan Kulveit laments that while economists seriously thinking about AI grew 10-30x in a few years, most newcomers bring frames he finds unhelpful or harmful: treating AI as normal technology, 'merchants of cope' dynamics, labour/capital mindset, and induction from past wrong risk warnings. Ben Golub pushes back: the new economists are mostly empirical, but truly empirical econ is modest and backward-looking — what's needed is new theory, where big approaches will actually come from.

Related event: Economists studying AI grew 10-30x, but quality disappoints insiders(5 posts)→

Original post →

More from AGI Musings

AGI Musings channel →