AI Won’t Decide the Future of Work—We Will (with David Autor)
Every wave of new technology has come with the same promise: productivity rises, and everyone benefits. That’s not how it usually plays out.
This week, we’re resharing our conversation with MIT economist David Autor, one of the world’s leading experts on how technological change reshapes labor markets. Autor challenges the familiar story that innovation inevitably destroys good jobs, arguing instead that AI could expand human expertise and help rebuild pathways into the middle class — if the gains are broadly shared.
As companies race to adopt AI and workers wonder what comes next, this episode offers a clearer way to think about the future of work: technology doesn’t determine economic outcomes. The rules we build around it do.
David Autor is a labor economist and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies how technological change and globalization affect workers. He is also co-director of the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and the National Bureau of Economic Research Labor Studies Program.
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Further reading:
NOEMA - AI Could Actually Help Rebuild The Middle Class
New York Times - How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle Class
Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com
Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast
Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social
Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics
Threads: pitchforkeconomics
TikTok: @pitchfork_econ
YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics
LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics
Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer
Substack: The Pitch
More description
Every wave of new technology has come with the same promise: productivity rises, and everyone benefits. That’s not how it usually plays out.
This week, we’re resharing our conversation with MIT economist David Autor, one of the world’s leading experts on how technological change reshapes labor markets. Autor challenges the familiar story that innovation inevitably destroys good jobs, arguing instead that AI could expand human expertise and help rebuild pathways into the middle class — if the gains are broadly shared.
As companies race to adopt AI and workers wonder what comes next, this episode offers a clearer way to think about the future of work: technology doesn’t determine economic outcomes. The rules we build around it do.
David Autor is a labor economist and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies how technological change and globalization affect workers. He is also co-director of the MIT Shaping the Future of Work Initiative and the National Bureau of Economic Research Labor Studies Program.
Social Media:
Further reading:
NOEMA - AI Could Actually Help Rebuild The Middle Class
New York Times - How One Tech Skeptic Decided A.I. Might Benefit the Middle Class
Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com
Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast
Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social
Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics
Threads: pitchforkeconomics
TikTok: @pitchfork_econ
YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics
LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics
Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer
Substack: The Pitch
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