Get All Access for $5/mo

AI Isn't 'Revolutionary Change,' and Its Benefits Are 'Exaggerated,' Says MIT Economist Less than 5% of human jobs will be affected by AI, he claims.

By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut

Key Takeaways

  • MIT economist Daron Acemoglu thinks AI is overhyped and its effects are "exaggerated."
  • In an April paper, Acemoglu found that less than 5% of human jobs will be affected by AI.
  • Acemoglu says AI won't revolutionize the economy in the next 10 years , having only a “modest” impact on GDP.

An award-winning economist is calling out what he sees as an overinvestment in AI — and he's issuing a warning that overhyping machines and underrating humans could be a big mistake.

In a Tuesday interview with NPR, MIT economist Daron Acemoglu explained that he didn't think AI would revolutionize the economy in the next 10 years.

"I mean, unless you count a lot of companies overinvesting in generative AI and then regretting it," he said.

Acemoglu, who won the Global Economy Prize in 2019, believes that AI's effects are "exaggerated" and that the technology will not be able to perform many tasks outside of an office. Even inside an office, he says, AI can't fully replace humans because it still makes mistakes and relies heavily on the data it has been trained on, which may have been copyrighted.

Related: How Much Does It Cost to Develop and Train AI? Here's the Current Price, According to the CEO of an $18 Billion AI Startup.

Acemoglu wrote a paper in April that measured AI's long-term impact on the economy. He found that less than 5% of human jobs will be affected by AI and that AI will only have a "modest" impact on GDP over the next decade.

The question remains if we will ever need ChatGPT to "write Shakespearean sonnets" as it does now, when "what we want is reliable information useful for educators, healthcare professionals, electricians, plumbers, and other craft workers," the paper reads.

AI's accuracy has been repeatedly questioned, with Google's AI overviews getting major things wrong within a month of release and NYC's $600,000 AI chatbot spotted giving business owners inaccurate advice.


Daron Acemoglu. Credit: Frank Molter/picture alliance via Getty Images

Acemoglu told NPR that AI companies have used his books and academic papers to train AI, even though he didn't give them permission. He tried summarizing his work with AI out of curiosity and said it was "not horrible," but that a human being hosting the podcast could do it better.

"A lot of people in the industry don't recognize how versatile, talented, multifaceted human skills - capabilities are," Acemoglu said. "And once you do that, you tend to overrate machines ahead of humans and underrate the humans."

Related: Microsoft AI CEO Says Almost All Content on the Internet Is Fair Game for AI Training

Sherin Shibu

Entrepreneur Staff

News Reporter

Sherin Shibu is a business news reporter at Entrepreneur.com. She previously worked for PCMag, Business Insider, The Messenger, and ZDNET as a reporter and copyeditor. Her areas of coverage encompass tech, business, strategy, finance, and even space. She is a Columbia University graduate.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Science & Technology

5 Rule-Bending AI Hacks to Make Your Mornings More Productive and Profitable

By 2025, AI will transform productivity by streamlining workflows and cutting costs. Major companies like Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI are leading the way, advancing AI into "Phase 3," where tools act as digital assistants. Discover 5 AI hacks to boost efficiency and redefine your daily routine.

Side Hustle

'Hustling Every Day': These Friends Started a Side Hustle With $2,500 Each — It 'Snowballed' to Over $500,000 and Became a Multimillion-Dollar Brand

Paris Emily Nicholson and Saskia Teje Jenkins had a 2020 brainstorm session that led to a lucrative business.

Marketing

5 Critical Mistakes to Avoid When Giving a Presentation

Are you tired of enduring dull presentations? Over the years, I have compiled a list of common presentation mistakes and how to avoid them. Here are my top five tips.

Business News

Former Steve Jobs Intern Says This Is How He Would Have Approached AI

The former intern is now the CEO of AI and data company DataStax.

Business Process

How CEOs Can Take Control of Their Emails and Achieve Inbox Zero

Although there are many methodologies that leaders can use to manage their emails effectively, a consistent and thought-through process is the most effective way to systemize and respond to emails and is a step of stewardship for the effective leader.