S9 Ep18: Will AI transform economic growth?

S9 Ep18: Will AI transform economic growth?

From VoxTalks Economics by VoxTalks

March 13, 2026 · 31 min · Season 9 · Episode 18

About this episode

The episode discusses the potential of AI to transform economic growth through automation and feedback loops.

Could AI transform our economies to produce explosive growth? Most economists are sceptical at best. Anton Korinek of the University of Virginia, leader of the CEPR research policy network on AI, thinks the threshold is closer than those models suggest. In his latest work, Korinek, Tom Davidson, Basil Halperin, and Thomas Houlden, have built a growth model that captures what happens when AI starts automating AI research itself. Automation does two things simultaneously: it accelerates research, and it offsets the diminishing returns that have historically stopped self-improving processes from compounding. Three reinforcing feedback loops: software quality, hardware quality, and general technological progress, each amplify the others. Korinek's findings are more optimistic than even the AI labs' own roadmaps, which focus on software capability alone. The research behind this episode: Davidson, Tom, Basil Halperin, Thomas Houlden, and Anton Korinek. 2026. "When Does Automating AI Research Produce Explosive Growth? Feedback Loops in Innovation Networks." Working paper, January 2026. To cite this episode: Phillips, Tim, and Anton Korinek. 2026. "When Does Automating AI Research…

People in this episode

Host: Tim Phillips

Guest: Anton Korinek

Topics covered

  • AI
  • economic growth
  • automation
  • research
  • feedback loops

Keywords

  • AI
  • economic growth
  • automation
  • research
  • feedback loops
  • innovation
  • technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Virginia, CEPR

More episodes of VoxTalks Economics

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the VoxTalks Economics podcast page.