What AI Will Actually Do to the Economy with Noah Smith

About this episode

Noah Smith discusses the potential impacts of AI on the economy, including fears of financial crises and job market changes.

Noah Smith is a writer and Substack blogger behind Noahpinion , known for his contrarian, data-grounded takes on economics, technology, and geopolitics. What you'll learn: Why the viral Citrini "2028 Global Intelligence Crisis" post moved markets — and whether it should have The psychology behind why "AI causes 2008" scared Wall Street more than killer robots Why Noah thinks an AI-driven financial crisis is possible but unlikely How a productivity boom could paradoxically trigger a mild recession through "sticky prices" Why AI-enabled bioterrorism — not economic disruption — is Noah's biggest fear What Block's 4,000-person layoff and Mercury's hiring shifts reveal about AI's real impact on jobs Why software job losses in 2023-24 may have been driven by uncertainty, not AI capability Noah's take on deflation, GDP growth, and where inflation goes from here Why intellectual humility has been Noah's biggest edge as a forecaster The "dinosaur and the meteor" theory — why we're worrying about the economy while a much bigger threat flies overhead In this episode, we cover: (00:00) The meteor meme — AI's real threat vs. the economy (01:07) Introduction to Noah Smith (02:14) What the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Immad Akhund, Rajat Suri

Guest: Noah Smith

Topics covered

• AI and economy
• financial crisis
• productivity boom
• job market impact
• deflation and inflation
• economic forecasting

Keywords

• AI
• economy
• financial crisis
• job losses
• productivity
• inflation
• deflation
• Noah Smith

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Noahpinion, Block, Mercury

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