FOX Business host Charles Payne talks about the market changes driven by artificial intelligence on Making Money.
A Nobel Prize-winning economist has warned that continued predictions that artificial intelligence will disrupt the job market could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Robert Shiller, co-winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in economics for his work on asset prices, wrote a guest essay in the New York Times on Monday, arguing that panic over AI is not a new sociological phenomenon.
In fact, he writes, since the time of Aristotle, when humans envisioned self-powered looms and lyres that could produce music without someone plucking the strings, humans have been concerned about new technologies replacing them.
And in the 19th century, a group of British textile workers (later known as the Luddites) deliberately sabotaged machines they thought would cost them their jobs.
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Professor Robert J. Shiller received the Nobel Prize in Economics at a ceremony held in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 10, 2013. (Pascal Le Segretin/Getty Images)
Schiller worries that similar insecurities within us are rearing their ugly heads again.
He cited a March Quinnipiac poll that found 70% of people believe AI will lead to fewer jobs. Furthermore, a Pew Research survey conducted in June found that only 16% of Americans believe that AI will have a positive impact on society over the next 20 years.
“Like many others, I believe that AI has the potential to reduce jobs. But unlike many, I don’t necessarily blame the technology itself; rather, I worry about the power of fear it creates,” Schiller wrote.
“Our brains are wired to respond to stories, and stories floating around in groups can influence individual financial decisions,” he continued. “When millions of people make millions of decisions based on negative expectations, there is a danger that fear actually helps create reality.”
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Robert Schiller attends the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Summit at the Detroit Masonic Temple on October 29, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Taylor Hill/Getty Images)
Much of the negative media coverage of AI centers on speculation about how much of an impact it will have on jobs and the economy.
In late May, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei told Axios that over the next one to five years, AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar jobs and push the unemployment rate up to 20%. He later expressed uncertainty about the exact schedule.
The current unemployment rate is 4.3%, up from 4% at the start of President Donald Trump’s term in January 2025.
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“The job market is slowing for a variety of reasons, but there are reports that fears of an AI apocalypse are exacerbating the freeze, leading to record low levels of consumer sentiment,” Shiller argued.
May 31, 2026, CloudHQ Data Center in Ashburn, Virginia. (Lexi Critchett/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Shiller suggested that technology leaders like Amodei are somewhat short-sighted in promoting dire scenarios that their companies could achieve, and that they should exercise restraint to prevent a recession.
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“Perhaps the best thing we can do is address directly the leaders in Silicon Valley who are vigorously promoting these negative narratives,” Schiller wrote.
He continued: “Certainly, attracting media attention by highlighting how dangerously powerful your AI models are may help you sell more products, but doing so during a recession may be much more difficult. Let’s not forget the important lessons our past has taught us.”
