AI may completely change the economy. Google DeepMind wants someone to find a way to do that.
The company has been advertising in recent weeks for a “senior AI economist” to explore what economics would look like in a world with artificial general intelligence (the term used when machine intelligence can rival humans in solving tasks).
“You will lead a new field of research exploring post-AGI economics, the future of scarcity, and the distribution of power and resources in a world fundamentally reshaped by advanced AI,” the job description states, and the role requires a strong background in economics.
One of the job’s responsibilities is to build economic simulations and models “to explore post-AGI scenarios.”
They are also expected to conduct research on the “long-term economic implications of AGI, questioning existing assumptions about scarcity, wealth, and distribution.”
Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Google isn’t the only one thinking about this issue. Anthropic is hiring to write about the impact of AI on the labor market and economic growth.
“Fundamental richness”
Demis Hassabis has talked a lot about the impact of AI on large-scale economic systems. Google DeepMind’s CEO said in August that reaching AGI could usher in an era of “radical abundance,” but warned that it could be harmful to society if not handled correctly.
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“One of the big things for economists to think about is how does it affect money, the capitalist system, and even the concept of the corporation,” he said of AGI at Davos in January. “I think that’s probably going to change everything.”
Hassabis has repeatedly warned that the implications of more powerful AI are not yet understood, and called for the creation of a group of experts to ensure that its arrival does not turn disastrous.
“Ideally, you would have some kind of institution around you that could respond to that moment,” he said at Davos, “and you would have a smart international council of very diverse, bright people from different backgrounds,” he said at Davos, explaining his vision for a CERN-like international organization that would bring in philosophers, social scientists, and writers alongside engineers to safely guide AI systems out of the lab and into society.
“But I’d like to hear who’s building that lab. And I think we really need it.”
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