Stanford summer course: Economics of Transformative AI

Phil Trammell an economics postdoc at the Digital Economy Lab, Stanford University.*
Zach Mazlish is an economics doctoral student at the University of Oxford.

As readers of this forum well know, some claim that advanced AI will greatly

1. accelerate economic growth,
2. displace labor, and/or
3. risk existential catastrophe.

We are preparing a course this August at Stanford on a selection of tools in (mainly) economic theory relevant to evaluating and expanding on the first two claims, and deciding what to do (altruistically) if some or all of them seem likely.
More information about the program may be found here.

Dates: August 16-29

The course is designed to be most suitable for graduate students in economics, but others prepared to get a lot out of the content are also encouraged to apply, including strong undergraduates, and students of computer science. Some of the lectures will be given by guest lecturers, including Chad Jones, professor of economics at Stanford GSB.

The course itself will be free of charge.
We also hope to offer some or all attendees room, board, and transportation reimbursement.

Click here to apply!

Applications close on February 21, 5pm Pacific Time.
Applicants will be notified by March 7, 5pm Pacific Time whether they have been accepted and the details of the accommodation provided, or in the event that the course will be canceled.

* In 2022 and 2023, I organized “ETGP”, a summer course in Oxford on topics in economic theory relevant to effective altruism more broadly. The present course is formatted similarly to ETGP, and in many ways the content is an extension of the AI-relevant content from ETGP.

• A summary of the feedback may be found here (2022) and here (2023).
• Some testimonials from 2022 attendees may be found in the comments here.
• A summary of the feedback from a recent follow-up survey may be found here.