Initiative on the Digital Economy

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee writes for Fast Company about the makings of a successful corporate culture. “I’ve come to believe that the most fundamental reason Silicon Valley companies are disrupting so many industries is that they’ve iterated and experimented their way into a corporate culture that supports high levels of agility, innovation, and execution simultaneously,” writes McAfee. “I call this culture the geek way. It’s based on four norms expected by those around you (and not just the bosses).”

Tom Davenport, a visiting scholar at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, writes for Forbes about how organizations are approaching generative AI. “If organizations are to succeed with generative AI, they need to increase the focus on data preparation for it, which is a primary prerequisite for success,” writes Davenport.

Al Jazeera reporter Somesh Jha highlights the work of research associate Georgios Petropoulos, who is examining the ways in which artificial intelligence can impact jobs. “His work has shown that in past industrial revolutions too, the displacement of jobs might have dominated in the short run,” writes Jha, “but in the long term, when the markets adapt to the automation shock, increased productivity actually sets the stage for more employment opportunities.”

A new report co-authored by MIT researchers finds that the “US lead in advanced computing has declined significantly over the past five years—especially when measured against China,” writes Will Knight for Wired. The report’s authors emphasize that the US “needs to make sure that the CHIPS Act spending reflects the importance of developing novel ideas in advanced computing, as opposed to just propping up existing technologies,” Knight notes.

Research fellow Michael Schrage speaks with Fortune reporter Sheryl Estrada about how generative A.I. will impact finance. “I think, increasingly, we’re going to be seeing generative A.I. used for financial forecasts and scenario generation,” says Schrage.

Tom Davenport, a visiting scholar at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, writes for Forbes about Telstra Ventures, a venture capitalist firm that invests in tech firms and its incorporation of data science into its investing criteria. “It seems inevitable that other venture capitalist firms will begin to make more data and analytics-driven decisions in the future,” writes Davenport.

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee speaks with Innovator News reporter Jennifer L. Schenker about his upcoming book, “The Geek Way,” which explores how tech companies found the best way to operate their businesses. “If you want your company to be a tech company, then you will be competing against geeks,” says McAfee. “These are people who look at things differently, go deep on a problem, get obsessed with it and fiercely work at it until they think they find a good solution.”

Writing for the Financial Times, Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist and co-founder of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, examines how new proposals in the EU to regulate AI could hinder innovation. “Restricting the field of potential innovators to those who can afford high upfront costs is a bad idea,” writes McAfee. “It leads to slower progress and growth and fewer hometown success stories, which are also risks.”

"You remember when we go to election polls, the voting booth, during elections, we get a little sticker that says 'I Voted'" says Prof. Sinan Aral of a new study that finds hearing about people who have received the Covid-19 vaccine can increase vaccine acceptance rates. "You should think of this as a very similar type of strategy. The reason we get that sticker that says 'I Voted' is that social proof motivates people to join in. And so if we got a sticker or put out a video or put out a message that said, 'I got vaccinated,' it would have the same effect for the same reasons."

New Yorker reporter Benjamin Wallace-Wells spotlights new research from the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, which shows “just telling people the accurate immunization rates in their country increased, by five per cent, the number who said that they would get the vaccine.”

In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Prof. Sinan Aral discusses the rise of GameStop stock and the real-world impact of social media. “The past week’s events exposed several potential sources of economic instability,” writes Aral. “If the social media crowd’s opinion alone drives market value, the market goes where the herd takes it, without the constraints of economic reality.”

A study by MIT researchers encourages neighboring states to more closely coordinate business reopening plans during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports James Hohmann for The Washington Post. The researchers “used data from mobile phones, social media and the census to conclude that residents are worse off when reopening is not coordinated among states and regions.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee speaks with NBC's Stephanie Ruhle about the ways robots are changing work. “The hollowing out of the middle class has not yet been replaced by middle class 2.0,” says McAfee. “That should be our real homework going forward, not trying to demonize the automation or the technology.”

During the Barclays Asia Forum, Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson urged companies to prioritize cybersecurity in order to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the growing digital economy, reports Saheli Roy Choudhury for CNBC. Brynjolfsson noted that the threat of cyberattacks "can be addressed much more effectively than it has been. I think we're just not taking it seriously enough."

In an article for The Wall Street Journal, Visiting Lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger spotlights MIT’s AI and the Future of Work Conference. Wladawsky-Berger writes that participants, “generally agreed that AI will have a major impact on jobs and the very nature of work. But, for the most part, they viewed AI as mostly augmenting rather than replacing human capabilities.”