Explain It to Me Let AI replace you
Dec 14, 2025
Anton Korinek, an economics professor specializing in AI's economic impact, discusses the concept of AI abundance and its historical parallels to the Industrial Revolution. He emphasizes the potential of AI to boost economic opportunities while cautioning against worker displacement. Tom Waite, a culture and technology writer, explores how AI may redefine leisure and creativity, questioning whether more free time leads to fulfillment. Both guests suggest that meaningful political and economic changes are essential to ensure AI benefits everyone.
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Delivery Robots Enabled Critical Care
- Jonquilyn Hill describes using delivery robots to care for his mother with pancreatic cancer.
- The robots let him stay with her while still getting groceries and supplies multiple times a day.
AI Could Create Massive Economic Abundance
- Anton Korinek frames 'AI abundance' as machines producing far more goods and services, potentially making society orders of magnitude wealthier.
- He argues AI and robots could expand economic opportunities by supplying reproducible machine labor.
AI Mirrors The Industrial Revolution
- Korinek compares AI's impact to the Industrial Revolution, where machines shifted scarcity from land to reproducible capital.
- That shift historically multiplied living standards and could similarly transform wealth today.
