At the European Central Bank (ECB) annual conference in Sintra, Ronnie Chatterji, chief economist at OpenAI, argued that the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) does not automatically render human labor obsolete. Chatterji emphasized that the mere fact a technology touches a task is not the same as eliminating the associated job; instead, policymakers and analysts should closely examine how job contents and work processes transform before making sweeping optimistic or pessimistic predictions.
To illustrate his point he used a family example: his father, also an economist, saw his work transformed by the arrival of personal computers around 1985. Where previously he ran regressions on a large mainframe using punched cards, he later performed the same analyses at his own desk. The new technology augmented rather than replaced his work and substantially raised productivity.
The economic effects of AI have become a central concern for the ECB and other central banks because a large-scale displacement of workers could materially affect economic growth and inflation. While central bank researchers have not yet identified clear signs of widespread layoffs, Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, said decision-makers are monitoring developments closely.
Conference discussions also touched on how much the euro area can benefit from AI when the most advanced models are often owned by non-European firms. Lagarde noted that rapid adaptation and integrating the technology could nonetheless bring significant advantages to the European economy.
Philip Lane, the ECB’s chief economist, told Bloomberg Television that AI adoption is increasingly visible in the European economy, with corporate and consumer surveys showing much faster uptake compared with previous general-purpose technologies. Lane expressed optimism about AI’s potential to boost productivity and investment.
Chatterji also observed that early fears of mass job losses from AI have not materialized so far. He cited software development as an example: despite predictions that programming jobs would shrink dramatically as algorithms improved, such a contraction did not occur to the extent forecast.
The ECB and other policymakers will continue to track AI’s diffusion and its macroeconomic implications, focusing on how the European economy can capture benefits from these technological changes.
The remarks were reported by Bloomberg.
