Overview
- The statement was released Monday, July 13, 2026, and posted at wemustactnow.ai as a public call for immediate action on AI's economic effects.
- Organizers Erik Brynjolfsson, Ajay Agrawal, Anton Korinek and Tom Cunningham gathered more than 200 signatories that include about 15–16 Nobel laureates and senior researchers from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
- Signers say AI could drive an economic transformation larger than the Industrial Revolution but unfold in years rather than decades, compressing the time available for adaptation.
- The statement asks economists, policymakers and tech leaders to deepen research now and to begin building policies and public institutions that help AI complement human work and share benefits widely.
- If governments do not act, signatories warn of risks such as widespread job displacement and concentrated wealth, and they say early institution-building could shape whether AI raises living standards or widens inequality.