EconTalk AI, Employment, and Education (with Tyler Cowen)
243 snips
Mar 30, 2026 
Tyler Cowen, economist and George Mason professor known for Marginal Revolution, argues AI will reshape work and education but not doom jobs. He proposes devoting large parts of college to AI skills and experiments with AI-led courses. He discusses AI tutoring, assessment, cheating solutions, and how students should learn to use models to ask better questions.
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AI Will Create New Job Categories
- Tyler Cowen expects AI to create many new kinds of jobs in energy, biomedical trials, and law rather than mass unemployment.
- He argues AI-driven ideas require testing, regulation, and energy, which generate employment and new projects.
AI May Improve Ideas But Overload Governance
- Cowen believes advanced models often give better governance ideas than current officials but warns humans may ignore AI advice.
- He predicts AI will flood open comment processes with high-quality but pointless submissions, worsening short-run governance.
Make AI A Third Of The Curriculum
- Devote roughly a third of college curricula to teaching students how to use AI in their field, integrating it into existing course content.
- Cowen says students can learn to use AI to read classics or program, and faculty can be taught by students.