AI Warning: 200 Experts Say Change Is Bigger Than Industrial Revolution

On July 13, more than 200 leading economists and AI researchers signed an open letter organized by the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. The group includes 16 Nobel laureates. Their warning was stark: artificial intelligence may drive an economic transformation “larger than the Industrial Revolution” compressed into a fraction of the time. They urge the world to “act now” to build institutions that can steer this change. We agree with every word. Then we scanned the signatory list. Four in five signatories come from the West. This raises a critical question: Is the global debate on AI’s future being held with half the world absent?