The Digitalist Papers: The Economics of Transformative AI

Inspired by The Federalist Papers, this second volume of The Digitalist Papers explores the economics of transformative AI—advanced systems that could drive changes as significant as the Industrial Revolution, but far more quickly. While technical progress is accelerating, and investments in the technology are surging, far less attention has been devoted to understanding the implications of what is being built for how we live and work together in society. This volume brings together leading economists, technologists, and policy thinkers to take that challenge seriously. Across visionary scenarios and deeper essays, contributors explore how transformative AI could reshape growth, innovation, work, fiscal policy, global competition, and the distribution of wealth and power, among much else. They turn frontier research into practical frameworks and open questions for policymakers, industry leaders, and the public, and offer guidance for how societies might respond with foresight and deliberate design to support broad economic opportunity and human well-being. Authors include Lisa Abraham, Ajay Agrawal, Susan Athey, David Autor, Avital Balwit, Yoshua Bengio, Nicolas Berggruen, Nick Bostrom, Erik Brynjolfsson, Sarah Friar, Joshua S. Gans, Nathan Gardels, Alvin W. Graylin, Steve Jurvetson, Joshua Kavner, Anton Korinek, Alexander Lipton, Lee Lockwood, Ioana Marinescu, Jason Matheny, Alvin Moon, Alex Pentland, Daniela Rus, Eric Schmidt, Fiona Scott Morton, Betsey Stevenson, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Daniel Susskind, Neil Thompson, Ramin Toloui, Gabriel Unger, Màxim Ventura-Bolet, and Anna Yelizarova.