Some Smart Economists' Views on AI
All thoughtful and nuanced perspectives. Speculative at times, but for smart reasons you might not have considered before; at least that was the case for me.
ai
20 posts
“Academics Need to Wake Up on AI”
The third of a series by Alexander Kustov on AI attitudes among academics. I found the entire series to be quite persuasive. I suspect before long that AI use in academic writing will be common as long as its use is disclosed. But the idea that AI use in research
Humanity’s Best Invention
Language itself is why LLMs are a big deal
Anthropic is winning against DoD
As predicted, Anthropic has the obviously superior legal argument and Judge Lin has granted a preliminary injunction shutting down (for now) the Government's actions agains the company. Here's an excellent and detailed overview from Zvi Mowshowitz. Quoting Zvi, who's quoting the judge: At bottom,
My Favorite Youtube Channels About AI
Hands down, the current best platform for learning about AI is Youtube. The challenge is finding the channels that have substance to them rather than promising how to vibecode your way to a six-figure side hustle. I just put this list together for my students, and thought that it was
What if we teach students how to use AI critically (instead of teaching them not to use it)?
I don't see our choice as "AI or no AI" any more than past generations could halt the spread of the printing press — that widely decried threat to scholarship. Children born today will never know a world without AI. The majority of U.S. teens already
The Age of Living Software
What if software doesn't have to be take-it-or-leave-it?
Anthropic Will Win Against DoD
Regarding what I wrote yesterday, this piece is an expert overview of the laws at stake and why DoD’s supply chain risk designation for Anthropic is doomed to fail. From the government's perspective, Claude does pose some concerning vendor reliability issues. But the specific actions Hegseth and
Anthropic doesn’t have to work for anyone, including the government
I’ve seen enough takes on the Anthropic/DoD conflict since it all went down last week, and I’m surprised at how often this important principle is being left out of the conversation: There are many freedoms enjoyed by Americans—and therefore American businesses. One of them is that
If AI companies were consumer tech from a decade ago
Late night noodling, but even in the light of day this still feels right to me. If we mapped current #AI companies to consumer tech from the 2010s: Anthropic = Apple. Focused on high quality for a smaller market. Stubborn and opinionated in annoying ways, but innovating in important ones. Sets
AI verifiability, but compared to what?
Much of the advice around using AI is that if you use it, then you need to verify what it produces. This is presently good advice. But I'm doubtful it will be good advice in the long-run. Consider how little verification happens in large institutions by leaders who
Professors Are Conservative, Actually
Politically, academics are much more liberal than the average person. But Paul Bloom makes the excellent point that, in areas related to their work, academics are actually deeply conservative. Asking a prof about AI is like asking a taxi driver to weigh in on Uber. I think I have good