Anthropic launches program to track AI's economic disruption

As concerns about AI-driven job losses intensify, Anthropic is launching a new effort to better understand the technology’s broader economic effects. On Friday, the company introduced its Economic Futures Program, a research initiative focused on studying the labor market disruptions caused by artificial intelligence and developing policy ideas to address them.

The program comes amid growing unease over how equitably the gains from generative AI will be distributed. While some see opportunities for entrepreneurship and GDP growth, others warn of potential mass displacement — particularly in white-collar jobs.

“Everybody’s asking questions about what are the economic impacts [of AI], both positive and negative,” said Sarah Heck, head of policy programs and partnerships at Anthropic. “It’s really important to root these conversations in evidence and not have predetermined outcomes or views on what’s going to [happen].”

A response to stark predictions

The announcement follows a recent warning from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who in May said AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within the next one to five years and push unemployment as high as 20%.

Asked whether the program’s goal is to directly address such job losses, Heck struck a careful tone.

“I think the key goal is to figure out what is actually happening,” she said. “If there is job loss, then we should convene a collective group of thinkers to talk about mitigation. If there will be huge GDP expansion, great. We should also convene policy makers to figure out what to do with that. I don’t think any of this will be a monolith.”

Building on existing data tools

The new initiative expands on Anthropic’s Economic Index, launched in February, which aggregates and shares anonymized data to study AI’s impact on employment and productivity trends — a level of transparency uncommon among tech firms.

The Economic Futures Program will focus on three areas:

• Grants for researchers studying AI’s effect on labor, productivity, and value creation.

• Create policy forums to develop and evaluate proposals that prepare for shifts in the economy.

• Build new datasets to track AI adoption and its economic consequences over time.

Anthropic is opening applications for rapid research grants of up to $50,000, aiming to fund empirical studies and evidence-based policy proposals. These grants are intended to yield results within six months.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be peer-reviewed,” Heck said. “We want to be able to complete it within six months.”

Anthropic is also organizing symposia in Washington, D.C., and Europe this fall, where selected policy proposals will be discussed. In addition, it plans to partner with independent research institutions, offering access to Claude API credits and other technical resources to support economic research.

Beyond job loss: understanding transitions

Heck emphasized that the initiative isn’t limited to studying labor market risks. The company also wants to examine how AI may reshape workflows, generate new types of jobs, and shift the value of specific skills.

“We want to understand more about the transitions,” she said. “How do workflows happen in new ways? How are new jobs being created that nobody ever contemplated before? … How are certain skills remaining valuable while others are not?”

One area of interest is fiscal policy — particularly how traditional models of value creation might evolve as AI adoption increases.

“We really want to open the aperture here on things that can be studied,” said Heck. “Labor is certainly one of them, but it’s a much broader swath.”

A different approach than OpenAI

Anthropic’s launch follows a related — but differently focused — initiative from competitor OpenAI, which released an Economic Blueprint in January. That plan emphasizes infrastructure development and public AI adoption, including ideas like AI economic zones and expanded access to computing resources.

While OpenAI’s proposal includes workforce training and support for AI literacy, it does not directly address potential job loss from AI automation. Its infrastructure projects, like the Stargate data center partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, are projected to create thousands of construction jobs — but mostly in the short term.

What This Means

Anthropic’s Economic Futures Program reflects a broader shift among AI companies as they begin to grapple with the real-world disruptions their technologies may bring. Unlike many corporate statements that highlight only opportunity, this initiative acknowledges both upside and risk — and commits resources to measure them.

As policy makers look for credible data to shape future labor and economic policy, initiatives like this may help bridge the gap between Silicon Valley optimism and public concern. The clearer the picture of AI’s impact becomes, the better prepared societies may be to manage its effects — whether that means supporting displaced workers, reshaping education, or rethinking how value is defined in an automated economy.

In a rapidly changing labor landscape, efforts to understand the full scope of AI’s economic impact are no longer optional — they’re essential.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.