OpenAI Appoints First Chief Economist to Analyze AI's Economic Impact

Meet OpenAI's first chief economist -- 3 things you may not know about him

[alt heds: OpenAI has hired its first chief economist - 3 things to know about him 3 things you may not know about OpenAI's new chief economist] While no one knows exactly how artificial intelligence will reshape society, OpenAI plans to analyze the technology's potential economic impact. On Oct. 22, OpenAI named Dr. Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji as its first chief economist. In this role, he will oversee research on a range of AI-related topics, including how AI innovations may impact the global economy and how the workforce can utilize AI tools both now and in the future, according to OpenAI's press release. "Dr. Chatterji's deep understanding of the dynamics that shape our economy and society will guide OpenAI's mission to create AI tools that fuel growth, solve complex challenges, and foster long-term prosperity," Larry Summers, OpenAI board member and former U.S. Treasury Secretary, said in the press release. While this move marks a first for OpenAI, it won't be Chatterji's first high-profile role. Here are three things you may not know about OpenAI's new chief economist.

Meet Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji - OpenAI's first chief economist

OpenAI has appointed Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji, a distinguished professor from Duke University and former White House CHIPS coordinator, as its first Chief Economist. Chatterji will lead research on AI's economic impact, focusing on growth, job creation, and labor market trends to harness AI for long-term prosperity.OpenAI has named Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji -- a distinguished professor at Duke University and former White House CHIPS coordinator -- as its first Chief Economist. In this new role, Chatterji will spearhead research on AI's impact on economic growth, job creation, and labor market trends, with a focus on how to harness AI's potential for long-term prosperity. "My career has focused on studying how innovation and entrepreneurship shape our economy and society, and I am excited to apply my skills to support OpenAI's mission to ensure that the benefits of artificial intelligence are widely distributed," said Chatterji. "I look forward to contributing to research that helps inform how we transition to an AI-driven economy." Larry Summers, OpenAI board member and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, highlighted the significance of Chatterji's appointment saying. "Like electricity, AI holds the potential to revolutionize our economy by accelerating innovation and boosting productivity. Dr. Chatterji's deep understanding of the dynamics shaping our economy will guide OpenAI's mission to create AI tools that fuel growth, solve complex challenges, and foster long-term prosperity." Chatterji brings a wealth of experience from both academia and public service. At Duke University, he serves as the Mark Burgess & Lisa Benson-Burgess Distinguished Professor of Business and Public Policy. In the public sector, he played a pivotal role in executing the $52 billion CHIPS and Science Act during his time as the White House CHIPS coordinator. He has also held key economic leadership roles like;

OpenAI hires first chief economist

OpenAI hired its first-ever chief economist to examine the economic impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), the ChatGPT maker announced Tuesday. Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji, a professor of business and public policy at Duke University, will take on the new role at the AI firm, leading research into how the technology could affect economic growth and job creation. "My career has focused on studying how innovation and entrepreneurship shape our economy and society, and I am excited to apply my skills to support OpenAI's mission to ensure that the benefits of artificial intelligence are widely distributed," Chatterji said in a statement. "I look forward to contributing to research that helps inform how we transition to an AI-driven economy," he added. Chatterji previously held roles in both the Biden and Obama administrations. Under President Biden, he served as the White House CHIPS coordinator, overseeing implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, and as acting deputy director of the White House National Economic Council. During the Obama administration, Chatterji was a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who serves as a board member at OpenAI, touted Chatterji's "deep understanding of the dynamics that shape our economy and society" in a statement Tuesday. As companies rapidly develop AI models, many have raised concerns about what the technology could mean for the workforce. Industry leaders, like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have acknowledged that AI has the potential to make big changes to the job market. "AI is going to eliminate a lot of current jobs, and there will be classes of jobs that totally go away. AI is also going to change the way a lot of current jobs function, and it's going to create entirely new jobs," Altman said at an event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) last year.

OpenAI has hired Dr. Ronnie Chatterji to be its first chief economist.

Here's what Dr. Chatterji, a Duke professor and former CHIPS coordinator for the White House, will do, according to OpenAI: In this new role, Dr. Chatterji will lead research into how AI will influence economic growth and job creation; including the global economic impacts of building AI infrastructure, insights on longer-term labor market trends, and how to help the current and future workforce harness the benefits of this technology.

OpenAI Hires Aaron Chatterji to Be Its Chief Economist

Cade Metz has covered the artificial intelligence field for 15 years. OpenAI, where executives and researchers dream of building artificial intelligence that could one day change the world, has hired a chief economist with ties to two Democratic presidential administrations. OpenAI said on Tuesday that it had hired Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji, a professor of business and public policy at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He previously served as a senior economist in President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers and as chief economist at the Commerce Department under President Biden. The addition of a chief economist is indicative of OpenAI's enormous ambition and where its executives see their company in the tech industry's pecking order. Silicon Valley giants like Google and Facebook hired seasoned economists early in their transformations from promising start-ups into trillion-dollar companies whose technologies changed global markets. OpenAI hopes to eventually build A.I. that changes office work, scientific research and many other tasks, and the company acknowledges that its technologies could eventually replace some workers. The company has also spent months negotiating with investors, chipmakers and governments around the world to build new chip-making plants and expand the pool of computer data centers used to build advanced A.I. "We are going to need big investment from both the public and the private sector to make sure this infrastructure is in place, so that we can remain competitive as a country and harness the benefits of the technology," Dr. Chatterji said in an interview with The New York Times. The move is also the latest in a line of high-profile hires and appointments by the San Francisco start-up as it attempts to move past a year of turmoil. Last November, four members of the OpenAI board ousted its chief executive, Sam Altman. He was reinstated five days later after Microsoft, the company's biggest investor, offered to hire its entire staff. Since then, OpenAI, the maker of the online chatbot ChatGPT, has brought in a who's who of tech executives, disinformation experts and A.I. safety researchers. This summer, it named Chris Lehane, a lawyer who served in the Clinton White House, as its vice president of global affairs. The company has also added seven board members, including Paul M. Nakasone, a four-star Army general who ran the National Security Agency, and Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury Secretary who worked with Dr. Chatterji in the Obama White House. "Professor Chatterji's deep understanding of the dynamics that shape our economy and society will guide OpenAI's mission to create A.I. tools that fuel growth, solve complex challenges and foster long-term prosperity," Mr. Summers said in a statement. (The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December, claiming that they had infringed The Times's copyright in training A.I. systems.) In 2002, four years after it was founded, Google hired University of California, Berkeley economist Hal Varian, who helped design Google's online ad auctions -- the heart of its business -- and has spent more than two decades shaping Google's corporate strategy and public policy. This summer, in the Justice Department's antitrust suit against Google, Dr. Varian was called to testify over memos he sent not long after joining the company. "Hal Varian did a brilliant job for Google on many fronts, from helping them build new revenue models to predicting how technologies would affect the economy," said Erik Brynjolfsson, director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. "There are a variety of things you could do with OpenAI's technology that an economist can help them understand." During his most recent stint at the White House, Dr. Chatterji helped coordinate the Biden administration's implementation of the C.H.I.P.S. and Science Act, a 2022 law that authorized roughly $280 billion in new funding for the development and manufacturing of computer chips in the United States. His understanding of that project -- and his political connections -- could help OpenAI as it seeks to create additional computing power for training A.I. systems. Dr. Chatterji, who has spent years exploring the effect of technological innovation on the larger economy, could also help the company steer through its potential impact on the economy. A paper written in part by OpenAI researchers estimated that 80 percent of the U.S. work force could have at least 10 percent of their work tasks affected by A.I. technologies and that 19 percent of workers might see at least 50 percent of their tasks impacted. The worry among some experts, including Dr. Brynjolfsson, is that these technologies could boost the productivity of the most skilled and wealthy workers while replacing others who have fewer resources. "We have to make sure we develop these technologies in a way that the benefits are distributed evenly and don't create the divides that we have seen with previous generations of technology," Dr. Chatterji said.

OpenAI hires its first chief economist

OpenAI has hired its first chief economist: Aaron Chatterji, formerly the chief economist at the Commerce Department under President Joe Biden and a senior economist in President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. Chatterji, who's also a professor of business and public policy at Duke, will study AI's economic impacts at OpenAI, leading research into how AI might influence economic growth and job prospects. "Our hope is that this work will inform efforts by policymakers, academics, and organizations [about] the global economic impacts of building AI infrastructure, insights on longer-term labor market trends, and how to help the current and future workforce harness the benefits of this technology," OpenAI wrote in a blog post. Notably, Chatterji helped to coordinate the Biden administration's implementation of the 2022 CHIPS Act, which authorized roughly $280 billion in funding for the development of computer chips in the U.S. His understanding of the project -- and political connections -- could help OpenAI as it undertakes chip design efforts of its own.

OpenAI hires ex-White House official as chief economist

(Reuters) - ChatGPT parent OpenAI has tapped former White House official Aaron Chatterji as its first chief economist to lead research on AI's impact on the economy, the startup at the center of the generative artificial intelligence frenzy said on Tuesday. Chatterji, a professor of business and public policy at Duke University, was formerly a White House CHIPS coordinator, responsible for the implementation of the $52.7 billion in subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production and research. He was previously the chief economist of the Department of Commerce under President Joe Biden and has also served as a senior economist on former U.S. President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. In his new role, Chatterji will lead research into AI's potential effects on economic growth and job creation. This research will also span the global economic impact of building AI infrastructure and insights on longer-term labor market trends. Separately, the company also appointed ex-Uber executive Scott Schools as OpenAI's chief compliance officer on Tuesday. Schools has also served as associate deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. The appointments are the latest in OpenAI's recent executive shake-ups and organizational changes. (Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

OpenAI hires ex-White House official as chief economist

Oct 22 (Reuters) - ChatGPT parent OpenAI has tapped former White House official Aaron Chatterji as its first chief economist to lead research on AI's impact on the economy, the startup at the center of the generative artificial intelligence frenzy said on Tuesday. Chatterji, a professor of business and public policy at Duke University, was formerly a White House CHIPS coordinator, responsible for the implementation of the $52.7 billion in subsidies for U.S. semiconductor production and research. Advertisement · Scroll to continue He was previously the chief economist of the Department of Commerce under President Joe Biden and has also served as a senior economist on former U.S. President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers. In his new role, Chatterji will lead research into AI's potential effects on economic growth and job creation. This research will also span the global economic impact of building AI infrastructure and insights on longer-term labor market trends. Advertisement · Scroll to continue Separately, the company also appointed ex-Uber (UBER.N), opens new tab executive Scott Schools as OpenAI's chief compliance officer on Tuesday. Schools has also served as associate deputy attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. The appointments are the latest in OpenAI's recent executive shake-ups and organizational changes. Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

OpenAI Appoints Dr. Ronnie Chatterji as Chief Economist

In his new position, Dr. Chatterji will investigate how AI influences economic growth and job creation, examining the global economic impacts of AI infrastructure and labor market trends. OpenAI has appointed Dr. Aaron "Ronnie" Chatterji as its first Chief Economist. In this role, Dr. Chatterji will lead research focused on understanding the economic impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and ensuring its benefits are widely distributed. Dr. Chatterji, a professor of business and public policy at Duke University, previously served as the Biden White House's CHIPS coordinator and has held various positions in economic policy, including Acting Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council and Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce. He has contributed to the Obama administration as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers. In his new position, Dr. Chatterji will investigate how AI influences economic growth and job creation, examining the global economic impacts of AI infrastructure and labor market trends. His research aims to inform policymakers and organizations on maximising AI's benefits while preparing for challenges associated with its adoption. Dr. Chatterji said, "My career has focused on studying how innovation and entrepreneurship shape our economy and society. I look forward to contributing to research that helps inform how we transition to an AI-driven economy." Larry Summers, OpenAI Board Member and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, emphasised the importance of Dr. Chatterji's role, saying, "Dr. Chatterji's understanding of the dynamics that shape our economy will guide OpenAI's mission to create AI tools that fuel growth and solve complex challenges." Dr. Chatterji's academic work includes two published books and over 30 peer-reviewed articles in fields such as strategic management, economics, and finance. The Lenfest Institute for Journalism has partnered with OpenAI and Microsoft to support local newsrooms in exploring AI for business sustainability and innovation. The initiative, called the Lenfest Institute AI Collaborative and Fellowship program, will provide grant funding and enterprise credits for experimentation with generative AI. OpenAI and Microsoft are providing $2.5 million each in direct funding and software credits, totaling up to $10 million for the two-year pilot program. The initiative is in partnership with The Lenfest Institute's Local Independent News Coalition (LINC), which includes several major independent news organisations in the U.S. In the first round of funding, five news organisations -- Chicago Public Media, Newsday, The Minnesota Star Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Seattle Times -- will receive grants to hire a two-year AI fellow. The fellows will work on projects focused on improving business sustainability and implementing AI technologies within their organisations. These publications will also receive OpenAI and Microsoft Azure credits to assist in developing tools for local news. Jim Friedlich, executive director and CEO of The Lenfest Institute, said, "Through these fellowships -- and by sharing results with the broader news industry -- we will help empower local newsrooms to explore, implement, and advocate for AI business solutions." Selected projects include Chicago Public Media focusing on AI for transcription and translation, The Minnesota Star Tribune exploring AI summarisation, Newsday developing public data tools, The Philadelphia Inquirer creating a conversational search interface for archives, and The Seattle Times using AI for sales analytics. On the other hand, OpenAI rival Anthropic recently launched an upgraded Claude 3.5 Sonnet model and the new Claude 3.5 Haiku, along with a public beta for an experimental feature called "computer use."