Hundreds of experts warn the world must prepare now for AI’s impact

Lead

More than 200 economists and AI researchers, including 16 Nobel laureates, have signed an open letter urging policymakers and technology leaders to "act now" to prepare for the economic impact of artificial intelligence. The letter, released on Monday and organised by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, warns that AI may drive an economic transformation "larger than the Industrial Revolution, but unfolding over a vastly shorter time frame," according to Al Jazeera.

The statement cautions that AI could bring risks, including large-scale job displacement, as well as opportunities such as major gains in living standards. To address the impending disruption, the letter calls on governments and industry to create "incentives, guardrails, and institutions" that ensure AI is complementary to humans and beneficial to society, as reported by Al Jazeera.

Anton Korinek, a University of Virginia professor who organised the initiative, stressed that the window for action is narrowing. "We cannot improvise our strategy and institutions in the middle of the transformation; waiting for certainty means arriving too late," he said, according to Al Jazeera.

Coverage Comparison

Two outlets have covered the letter with distinct emphases. Al Jazeera focuses on the sweeping economic disruption the letter describes and the call to action for policymakers and technology leaders, framing the letter as urgent. The South China Morning Post, while also noting the letter's warning of an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution, places particular emphasis on the composition of the signatory list and the absence of Chinese signatories.

The South China Morning Post reports that four in five signatories come from the United States and Canada, with the rest almost entirely from Europe, and that no signatories come from China. The outlet argues that this omission is significant because "China is home to roughly half of all frontier model development" and has "arguably the world's fastest AI adoption." The article draws an analogy: "Trying to understand this transformation while excluding China is like studying the Industrial Revolution while ignoring the country with the most factories."

The South China Morning Post describes the omission as unintentional, reflecting what it calls a "two-level information gap" that runs deeper than most Western observers realise. The first level concerns the AI models themselves: the outlet reports that Western businesses such as DoorDash, Siemens, and Airbnb have adopted Chinese models from DeepSeek, Z.ai (Zhipu AI), and Moonshot AI alongside, and sometimes instead of, their American counterparts. The article suggests that for cost-conscious companies and governments, the sensible choice is often an open-weight model that runs cheaply on local hardware—and that today, that choice is often a Chinese model.

Al Jazeera, meanwhile, does not address the signatory list's geographic composition in the material reviewed, nor does it mention China's role in frontier model development. Its coverage concentrates on the letter's content and the urgency of the call.

Key Claims

The following claims appear across the two reports:

• Over 200 economists and AI researchers signed the open letter, organised by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab (reported by both Al Jazeera and the South China Morning Post).
• 16 Nobel laureates signed the letter (reported by both outlets).
• The letter warns of an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution (reported by both outlets, with the South China Morning Post quoting the letter's exact phrasing).
• Four in five signatories come from the United States and Canada (reported by the South China Morning Post only).
• China is home to roughly half of all frontier model development (reported by the South China Morning Post only).
• Chinese models are being adopted by Western businesses (reported by the South China Morning Post only).
• The letter calls for governments and industry to create incentives, guardrails, and institutions (reported by Al Jazeera).
• AI could deepen inequality between nations (reported by Al Jazeera, which notes that in December, the United Nations warned of this possibility).

Perspectives

Organisers and signatories: The letter's organisers and signatories—economists and AI researchers including Nobel laureates—hold that the world must prepare immediately for AI's economic impact, which they describe as potentially transformative but manageable if institutions are built in time. Anton Korinek emphasised that waiting for certainty would mean arriving too late.

South China Morning Post's analysis: The South China Morning Post, while not disputing the letter's core warning, presents a critical analytical perspective on its composition. The outlet argues that the exclusion of Chinese signatories reflects a deeper gap in Western understanding of AI development, given China's substantial role in frontier model development and the adoption of Chinese models by Western businesses.