TIME100 AI 2026 · Thinkers
David Autor
Professor of Economics, MIT
The MIT labor economist dropped out of Columbia and worked as a software developer at a Boston hospital before finishing college.
- Born
- 1967
- Now
- Head of Department; Rubinfeld Professor of Economics, MIT
- Studied
- Harvard University, Tufts University, Columbia University
Interesting facts
- Before AI
Before grad school he spent three years running computer-skills classes for low-income children and adults in San Francisco and South Africa.
economics.mit.edu - Numbers
His China Shock research with David Dorn and Gordon Hanson showed Chinese import competition durably lowered US wages and employment.
economics.mit.edu - In their words
Calls AI 'a crappy automation technology' that cannot replace a worker with judgment and domain knowledge.
time.com - Connection
Is a Google Technology and Society Visiting Fellow for 2025 to 2027 while heading MIT's economics department.
economics.mit.edu
Career
- MITHead of Department; Rubinfeld Professor of Economics, Department of Economics1999 to now
Education
- PhD, Public policy, Harvard University, 1999
- MA, Public policy, Harvard University, 1994
- BA, Psychology, Tufts University, 1989
- Attended, left without a degree, Columbia University
Sources1en.wikipedia.org