Economist Jason Furman: AI could do my first job at the CEA, but not my last
soumitrashukla9 · x · 2026-11-01
Harvard economist and former CEA chair Jason Furman published a long essay defending his provocative claim that, running the Council of Economic Advisers today, he would "regretfully" choose AI systems over 20 PhD staffers. Key points:
- AI guided by senior economists like Stiglitz or Yellen could easily do 95% of what he did as a junior staffer; the rest was errands.
- "Jason as Chair could not be replaced by AI, but Jason as junior staffer could" — the question is the nature of the job, not virtue or seniority. NEC staffers, he notes, are less replaceable than CEA ones.
- He warns against denial: at least in pockets of the labor market, replacement risks are real and need honest confrontation.
- The deeper worry: junior roles are the training pipeline — replacing them cuts off learning-by-doing, which matters for the future of work.
Related event: Economist Furman: AI Can Do My First Job, Not My Last(4 posts)→
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