Why Big Tech wants more economists

Tech companies are hiring economists to study how AI is reshaping work and society. But what happens when the companies building the technology also produce the research into its effects? Host Soumaya Keynes talks to Ara Kharazian, chief economist at Ramp and Peter McCrory chief economist at Anthropic, alongside FT data journalist John Burn-Murdoch, about why economists are in such demand, what proprietary data can reveal about AI’s impact, and whether industry-backed research can avoid conflicts of interest.Want more?Are economists making themselves too useful in the AI boom?Find John Burn Murdoch and Sara O’Connor’s The AI Shift newsletter herePresented by Soumaya Keynes. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Original music by Breen Turner, sound design by Sam Giovinco and Sean O’Garrety. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Flo Phillips is the FT’s head of audio.Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.