TeamDay.ai
← People
Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu

Institute Professor of Economics at MIT

MIT economist and 2024 Nobel laureate. Leading voice on AI's impact on labor, wages, and inequality. Author of 'Why Nations Fail' and 'Power and Progress'.

@DrDaronAcemoglu Wikipedia
research economics future-of-work policy

About Daron Acemoglu

Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT and a 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in Economics, awarded jointly with Simon Johnson and James Robinson for their research on how institutions shape economic prosperity. A Turkish-American economist who has taught at MIT since 1993, Acemoglu has become one of the most cited economists in the world and an increasingly important voice in debates about AI’s impact on society.

Acemoglu’s work on AI and labor is sharply contrarian to Silicon Valley consensus. While many AI leaders predict transformative GDP gains, Acemoglu estimates AI will increase US GDP by only 1.1% to 1.6% over the next decade — roughly a 0.05% annual productivity gain. His core argument is not that AI is unimportant, but that it is being deployed in the wrong direction: too much focus on automating workers out of jobs, too little on augmenting human capabilities. His research with Pascual Restrepo found that for every robot added per 1,000 workers in the US, wages declined by 0.42% and employment ratios dropped by 0.2 percentage points.

In his 2023 book “Power and Progress” (co-authored with Simon Johnson), Acemoglu traces a thousand years of technological change to argue that new technologies do not automatically benefit ordinary people — they do so only when society actively redirects innovation toward broad-based prosperity. Applied to AI, his prescription is clear: invest in AI tools that complement workers and extend human expertise, rather than simply replacing human labor with cheaper machine alternatives. His framework has made him a go-to critic for journalists, policymakers, and technologists seeking a rigorous counter-narrative to AI hype.

Career Highlights

  • MIT (1993-present): Institute Professor, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics
  • Nobel Prize in Economics (2024): With Simon Johnson and James Robinson
  • John Bates Clark Medal (2005): Awarded to the best economist under 40
  • “Why Nations Fail” (2012): Landmark book on institutions and prosperity
  • “Power and Progress” (2023): Book on technology, power, and inequality

Notable Positions

On AI and Productivity

Acemoglu pushes back on the AI hype cycle with data:

“We’re using it too much for automation and not enough for providing expertise and information to workers.”

On the Direction of Innovation

The problem is not AI itself, but how it is being deployed:

“New technologies do not automatically benefit ordinary people. Throughout history, the gains from technology have depended on whether society redirects innovation toward broad-based prosperity.”

On Measured Impact

Against predictions of AI doubling GDP growth, Acemoglu expects modest gains:

AI will likely increase US GDP by 1.1% to 1.6% over the next decade, a roughly 0.05% annual productivity gain — far less than Silicon Valley projects.

Key Quotes

  • “Too much automation, not enough augmentation.”
  • “Technology does not automatically benefit ordinary people.”
  • “1.1% to 1.6% GDP increase over 10 years.”