Simon Johnson - Author

Simon Johnson

Contributor, The Yuan

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, is a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and a co-chair of the COVID-19 Policy Alliance. He is the co-author (with Daron Acemoglu) of the forthcoming Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity (PublicAffairs, May 2023).

Emerging markets

The Hollywood writers’ AI struggle is in truth everyone’s fight

Hollywood writers are currently staging a strike in protest at the disruptive way AI is being used, mostly because it threatens to upend their livelihoods. However, a closer look reveals that this issue has implications far beyond the movie and entertainment industry.

Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu, Austin Lentsch | Aug 18, 2023

Emerging markets

The platform economy needs fixing, but to do so requires certain steps

Social media comes under fire for its business model that generates profits by promoting extreme content. Steps like introducing taxes or other regulations to change these incentives, or training algorithms to stop promoting such harmful content will help to redress this problem.

Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu | May 25, 2023

New era

What's wrong with ChatGPT?

ChatGPT wins high praise, but few talk of its downsides and those who may lose out as a result of it. Part of this is fear of jobs automated out of existence, though a bigger issue is that AI chatbots can be eloquent but utterly useless in solving problems that need customer aid.

Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu | Mar 17, 2023