Jul 14, 2026 16:30:00

An urgent statement has been issued warning of the risk of 'job losses due to AI,' signed by 16 prominent economists and tech giants, including Nobel laureates and the former Google CEO.

The Stanford Digital Economy Lab has released a statement titled ' We Must Act Now, ' which warns of the serious impact AI will have on global employment. The statement has been signed by 16 prominent economists and AI researchers, including Nobel laureates and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

We Must Act Now
https://www.wemustactnow.ai/

“We Must Act Now”: Sixteen Nobel Laureates Join Leading Economists and AI Researchers in Call to Prepare for AI's Economic Transformation - Stanford Digital Economy Lab
https://digitaleconomy.stanford.edu/news/wemustactnow/

'We Must Act Now' is a statement consisting of three concise sentences. The Japanese translation and the original text of the statement are as follows:

1. AI has the potential to become dramatically more powerful in the next 10 years.

2. AI is expected to unfold on a scale exceeding that of the Industrial Revolution and in a much shorter timeframe, potentially bringing about unprecedented economic transformation. AI will bring risks such as massive job losses. At the same time, it will also bring opportunities such as a significant improvement in living standards.

3. Economists, policymakers, and technology leaders must understand the transformative economics of AI and take immediate action to build the necessary incentives, guardrails, and institutions to guide AI in a way that complements human capabilities and benefits society.

1. AI may become radically more powerful over the next 10 years.

2. This could drive an unprecedented transformation of our economy, larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame. It could bring risks, including large-scale job displacement, as well as opportunities such as major gains in living standards.

3. Economists, policymakers and technology leaders must act now to understand the economics of transformative AI and to build the incentives, guardrails, and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.

We Must Act Now has been signed by 16 Nobel laureates, including Daron Acemoglu and Michael Spence. Other signatories include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Anthropic co-founder Jack Clarke.

Kevin Bryan, one of the signatories and a researcher of economic strategy, specifically called for 'the establishment of highly skilled surveillance departments by G7 countries,' 'a structured access treaty through contributions to the AI stack,' and 'a bilateral security agreement between the United States and China.'

We specific avoids, but I'd do 1) AISI style, high skill monitoring divisions in G7 govt's, 2) sign access treaties given structure by contributions to AI stack, 3) sign bilateral, frequent, safety integration between US and China, 4) adaptive law & major orgs to get upside. 2/3
— Kevin A. Bryan (@Afinetheorem) July 13, 2026

It should be noted that there are many opposing views to the claim that 'AI will cause job losses.' For example, labor economist Kathryn Ann Edwards argues that 'the rise in unemployment cannot be directly linked to the spread of AI.'

'AI will not cause job collapse,' says economist - GIGAZINE