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Artificial Intelligence
AI Expert Spotlight: Simon Johnson
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We asked several MIT experts about their latest projects and what they see as the most exciting—and concerning—aspects of the AI boom.
Simon Johnson, Professor of Global Economics and Management, Co-Winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
As co-faculty director of the Shaping the Future of Work initiative at MIT, works on the economics and politics of AI development and deployment in the US and globally. In 2024, Johnson received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”
How would you describe your work in the artificial intelligence space?
With my co-directors, professors Daron Acemoglu and David Autor, we look at the choices that are being made, with a particular focus on how much algorithms are replacing people and how many high-productivity, well-paid new tasks are created. What happens to good jobs, particularly for people who did not go to college, is the key issue.
What do you see as the biggest opportunity in working with AI?
We think there is real potential to develop “Pro-Worker AI,” which means that the productivity and wages of less-educated workers can increase. We help executives, trade unions, and governments think about what would be required to move technology in that direction. This could happen—and it would help a lot of people—but this is not, unfortunately, the current default direction for the industry.
What is the biggest area for caution in working with AI?
In 2023, Daron Acemoglu and I published “Power and Progress,” which reviewed the past thousand years of history. The biggest caution that emerged is that the benefits of a breakthrough technology often fall into the hands of just a few people. Technological change can undermine the living standards of the middle class. We need to create more new tasks for humans to raise their productivity, increase the demand for their labor, and boost their wages. If we don’t consciously pursue such outcomes, we are unlikely to experience shared prosperity.
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