Anthropic launches its 'Economic Futures Program': What is it?
What's the story
Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company, has launched its Economic Futures Program. The initiative will study the effects of AI on employment and the global economy. It will also create policy proposals to address these effects. Sarah Heck, head of policy programs and partnerships at Anthropic, said that "everybody's asking questions about what are the economic impacts [of AI], both positive and negative."
Job disruption
AI may eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has warned that AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs and push unemployment rates as high as 20% in the next one to five years. Heck emphasized that the main goal of their Economic Futures Program is to understand what is actually happening to jobs and the economy due to AI.
Data analysis
Program focuses on 3 main areas
The Economic Futures Program builds on Anthropic's existing Economic Index, that was launched in March. The index provides open-source aggregated, anonymized data to study AI's impact on the labor markets and the economy over time. The new program shall focus on three main areas: funding research into AI's impact on labor, productivity and value creation; creating new forums to develop and evaluate policy proposals; and building datasets to track AI's economic usage and impact.
Grant initiative
Anthropic opens applications for grants
Anthropic has opened applications for quick grants of up to $50,000 for "empirical research on AI's economic impacts." The company is also searching for partnerships with independent research institutions and will offer partners with Claude API credits and other resources to support their research. Heck said that they are looking for individuals or teams who can produce high-quality data quickly.
Research scope
Research will also explore effects of AI on fiscal policy
Heck said that Anthropic also wants to study the effects of AI on fiscal policy. The company is interested in how a major shift in the way enterprises see value creation could affect fiscal policy.