1st CEPR Workshop of the Research and Policy Network on Artificial Intelligence

The objective in this inaugural workshop of the AI Research and Policy Network (RPN) was to kick off the RPN, discuss and analyze the economic challenges that the ongoing rapid advances in AI pose, and to explore how economists can contribute to addressing these challenges.

The workshop brought together a small group of participants to foster as much discussion as possible and speakers were asked to start their presentation with (i) an overview of their research agenda, (ii) their thoughts on how rapid advances in AI have affected their agenda and (iii) where they see new challenges and opportunities for the economics profession emerging. Specific papers were also presented, and the programme saw a technical keynote by Stuart Russell and an economic keynote by Philippe Aghion.

Workshop materials

• The economics of transformative AI: A research agenda Introduction by Anton Korinek (University of Virginia, Complexity Science Hub Vienna, and CEPR)
  • Background papers:
       * Economic Policy Challenges for the Age of AI
       * The Economics of Transformative AI: A Research Agend
       * Generative AI for Economic Research: LLMs Learn to Collaborate and Reason
• Technical Keynote: Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence by Stuart Russell (UC Berkeley)
• The AI research agenda from a central banking perspective by Maximilian Freier (European Central Bank)
• Artificial Intelligence in R&D by Benjamin F. Jones (Kellogg School of Management)
• AGI: with and without a singularity by Philip Trammell (Digital Economy Lab, Stanford University)
• Economic Keynote: Should we fear AI? by Philippe Aghion (INSEAD, Collège de France and CEPR)
• Artificial Intelligence and Automation: A Research Agenda by Rosario Crinò (Università di Bergamo and CEPR) and Gino Gancia (University of Milano Bicocca and CEPR)
  • Background papers:
       * Artificial Intelligence and Jobs: Evidence from US Commuting Zones
       * Robot Imports and Firm-Level Outcomes
• Labor Market Resilience and Digital Infrastructure by R. Maria del Rio-Chanona (UCL and Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge)
  • Background papers:
       * Large Language Models reduce public knowledge sharing on online Q&A platforms
       * Occupational mobility and automation: a data-driven network model
• The Economics of p (doom): Scenarios of Existential Risk and Economic Growth in the Age of Transformative AI by Jakub Growiec (SGH Warsaw School of Economics) and Klaus Prettner (WU Vienna)
  • Background paper:
       * Hardware and Software: A new perspective on the past and future of economic growth
• Research Agenda - Sam Manning (Centre for the Governance of AI)
• Recent and ongoing research on artificial intelligence at the IMF by Giovanni Melina (IMF)