#79 – Tamay Besiroglu on Explosive Growth from AI

Tamay Besiroglu is a researcher working on the intersection of economics and AI. He is currently the Associate Director of Epoch AI, a research institute investigating key trends and questions that will shape the trajectory and governance of AI. You can find links and a transcript at www.hearthisidea.com/episodes/besiroglu In this episode we talked about open source the risks and benefits of open source AI models. We talk about: The argument for explosive growth from ‘increasing returns to scale’ Does AI need to be able to automate R&D to cause rapid growth? Which theories of growth best explain the Industrial Revolution; and what do they predict from AI? What happens to human incomes under near-total job automation? Are regulations likely to slow down frontier AI progress enough to prevent this? Might AI go the way of nuclear power? Will AI hit on resource or power limits before explosive growth? Won't it run out of data first? Why aren't academic economists more interested in the prospect of explosive growth, if indeed it is so plausible? You can get in touch through our website or on Twitter. Consider leaving us an honest review wherever you're listening to this — it's the best way to support the show. Thanks for listening!