Erik Brynjolfsson: Economics of AI, Social Networks, and Technology | Lex Fridman Podcast #141

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

November 25, 2020

Duration

1h 39m

Channel

Lex Fridman Podcast

Watch on YouTube

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📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Erik Brynjolfsson is an economist at Stanford. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:

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EPISODE LINKS: Erik's Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikbryn Erik's Website: https://www.brynjolfsson.com/ The Second Machine Age (book): https://amzn.to/33f1Pk2 Machine, Platform, Crowd (book): https://amzn.to/3miJZ76 PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 2:56 - Exponential growth 7:24 - Elon Musk exponential thinking 9:41 - Moore's law is a series of revolutions 15:03 - GPT-3 16:42 - Autonomous vehicles 23:43 - Electricity 28:12 - Productivity 33:19 - Why is Twitter and Facebook free? 43:36 - Dismantling the nature of truth 46:56 - Nutpicking and Cancel Culture 53:11 - How will AI change our world 59:12 - Existential threats 1:01:05 - AI and the nature of work 1:07:11 - Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI 1:13:03 - Economics of innovation 1:19:09 - Effect of COVID on the economy 1:28:22 - MIT and Stanford 1:32:56 - Book recommendations 1:36:01 - Meaning of life CONNECT:

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🎤 SPEAKERS

• Lex Fridman

  host

• Erik Brynjolfsson

  guest

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Lex Fridman and Erik Brynjolfsson, Erik Brynjolfsson: Economics of AI, Social Networks, and Technology | Lex Fridman Podcast #141 explores erik Brynjolfsson on AI, Inequality, and Rethinking the Digital Economy Erik Brynjolfsson and Lex Fridman explore how exponential technological change—especially AI and digital networks—is colliding with much slower-moving human institutions, driving inequality, social tension, and measurement blind spots in the economy. Brynjolfsson argues that while AI and automation will massively boost capabilities, they will mostly restructure jobs rather than eliminate work, and that policy failures—not technology—are fueling economic discontent. They discuss how social media amplifies misinformation, why GDP misses the value of free digital goods, and how new metrics like GDP-B could better capture well-being. The conversation closes with reflections on COVID’s acceleration of remote work, the need for better tax and R&D policy, and the deeper question of meaning, purpose, and shared prosperity in an AI-driven future.

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