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Researchers

Neil Thompson

Director of MIT FutureTech, MIT Computer Science and AI Laboratory
Signed the letter · Academia · United States

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Director of the FutureTech research project at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, which studies the economic and technical foundations of progress in computing, and a principal investigator at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. Holds a PhD in Business and Public Policy from UC Berkeley and a master's in economics from the London School of Economics. Author of work on the economics of computing and AI, including 'The Computational Limits of Deep Learning', 'The AI Risk Repository', and, with David Autor, 'Expertise'. Signed the wemustactnow.ai open letter.

AI-written Documented facts only, from the sources below.

16 works in the co-authorship map · 2,574 citations across them

Sources

  1. Dr. Neil Thompson - MIT FutureTech
  2. Neil Thompson | MIT CSAIL
  3. Expertise
  4. “Signed the wemustactnow.ai open letter” — source

In the network

6 co-authors on the map · PageRank #84 of 400 · bridge #60 of 400 · 2 steps from Erik Brynjolfsson · cluster: AI risks and adoption.

Measured on this map only, which grows out of the letter's signatories; what these numbers mean. See Neil Thompson on the map

Documented positions

Will AI actually boost productivity and growth? it's complicated

Has said AI's productivity impact is still relatively small because practical application is limited, while expecting it to materialize gradually as applications expand.

Evidence

  1. “This means the impact on productivity is still relatively small.” — source
  2. “However, we can expect this impact to gradually materialize as applications continue to expand.” — source

Why researchers disagree on this · Who else says what

Will AI destroy more jobs than it creates? it's complicated

His research models automation as replacing some tasks while raising or lowering the expertise needed in remaining ones, and his cost-effectiveness study expects displacement to be substantial but gradual, with many jobs reshaped rather than eliminated.

Evidence

  1. Expertise
  2. “Overall, our findings suggest that AI job displacement will be substantial, but also gradual” — source
  3. “we will see a large number of jobs being 'reshaped,' meaning some tasks change and some do not.” — source

Why researchers disagree on this · Who else says what

Will AI widen inequality? leans agree

Has said an increasing share of income is likely to flow to capital owners as AI spreads, which he describes as a societal challenge; he does not specify a policy response in the source found.

Evidence

  1. “an increasing share of income is likely to flow to capital owners” — source

Why researchers disagree on this · Who else says what

Should governments act on AI now? unknown

No documented evidence reviewed yet.

How fast will the impact arrive? leans disagree

His study of computer-vision tasks finds only 23% of vision-task wages are currently cost-effective to automate and concludes displacement will be gradual, citing high costs of reaching required accuracy.

Evidence

  1. “Overall, our findings suggest that AI job displacement will be substantial, but also gradual” — source
  2. “Of course, there is a lag between initial adoption and full integration into production processes.” — source

Why researchers disagree on this · Who else says what

Selected work

Writes with

Martin Fleming (5), Alexander K. Saeri (2), Peter Slattery (2), David Autor (1), Emily Grundy (1), Robert Seamans (1)

Co-authors on the map, by papers written together (6 of 6 shown).

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