Introduction.
At ThorstenMeyerAI.com we explore the economic, technical, and civic questions that arise as artificial intelligence reduces the centrality of paid employment. To help orient readers, we have assembled our annual list of ten researchers and public intellectuals whose work is now steering the global conversation on post‑labor economics—the discipline that asks how income, purpose, and power should be organised in a world where human labour is no longer the main engine of production.
1. David Autor (MIT)
- Why he matters: Autor remains the most‑cited empirical scholar on how automation reshapes wages and inequality.
- Recent highlight: His June 2025 Stanford keynote argued that AI can re‑bundle expert and non‑expert tasks, potentially rebuilding a middle class hollowed out by off‑shoring and routinisation.
- Influence channel: Regular testimony to the U.S. Congress and World Bank keeps his findings at the centre of labour‑market policy.
2. Erik Brynjolfsson (Stanford Digital Economy Lab)
- Why he matters: Co‑author of The Second Machine Age and architect of the productivity J‑curve, explaining why big digital investments pay off only after an adoption lag.
- Recent highlight: A January 2025 National Academies webinar distilled policy advice from a multi‑year panel on AI & the Future of Work.
- Influence channel: Large‑scale field experiments—e.g., GPT copilots in call centres—supply hard data for regulators and firms.
3. Daron Acemoglu (MIT)
- Why he matters: Provides the leading neoclassical critique of automation for automation’s sake, arguing that the direction of technological change is as important as its speed.
- Recent highlight: Institutions, Technology and Prosperity (Jan 2025) proposes a tax on excessive‑automation externalities.
- Influence channel: Advises the IMF and several EU directorates on recalibrating capital–labour taxation.
4. Carl Benedikt Frey (Oxford Internet Institute)
- Why he matters: His 2013 study estimating that 47 % of U.S. jobs face automation risk still shapes the debate.
- Recent highlight: New robot‑adoption research (2024‑25) shows that low‑skill roles bear the brunt of displacement, refining the earlier headline number.
- Influence channel: Briefs UK and Nordic governments on workforce‑transition programmes.
5. Nick Srnicek (King’s College London)
- Why he matters: Co‑author of Inventing the Future, popularising the four‑point agenda of full automation, a shorter working week, Universal Basic Income (UBI), and a cultural shift away from the work ethic.
- Recent highlight: His 2024 Elevate Festival keynote urged unions to use bargaining power to steer tech investment toward egalitarian ends.
- Influence channel: Works with UK think‑tank Autonomy on designing UBI pilots and shorter‑week trials.
6. David Shapiro (Independent)
- Why he matters: Originator of the Hyperabundance Thesis: once AI cognition is nearly free, scarcity shifts to energy and materials.
- Recent highlight: A January 2025 essay mapped sixteen tokenised‑dividend mechanisms for distributing AI‑generated rents.
- Influence channel: Maintains a public GitHub repo and Discord server where researchers remix his open‑source macro‑economic models.
7. Thorsten Meyer (ThorstenMeyerAI)
- Why he matters: Bridges academic theory and fiscal engineering, arguing that if AI drives labour income toward zero, tax bases must pivot to energy and compute.
- Recent highlight: Intelligence Too Cheap to Meter (June 2025) proposes a kilowatt levy on frontier data‑centres that would fund universal AI dividends.
- Influence channel: Publishes widely read policy essays, hosts the YouTube series AI Unfiltered, and conducts private briefings with industry and policy analysts.
8. Marina Gorbis (Institute for the Future)
- Why she matters: Developed “workable futures” scenario planning used by U.S. foundations and state governments.
- Recent highlight: A February 2025 essay revisited forecasts that correctly anticipated gig‑platform dominance.
- Influence channel: Leads foresight labs for California’s Future‑of‑Work Commission.
9. Aaron Bastani (Novara Media)
- Why he matters: Coined the viral phrase Fully Automated Luxury Communism (FALC), making post‑work ideas culturally resonant.
- Recent highlight: Ongoing 2024‑25 touring debates keep redistribution and ecological limits in the spotlight.
- Influence channel: Uses multimedia journalism to popularise radical‑abundance narratives among Gen‑Z activists.
10. Zachary Stein (Education futurist)
- Why he matters: Frames education as the key bottleneck to flourishing in a post‑labour society, calling it “the metacrisis.”
- Recent highlight: A May 2025 Harvard conference tied curriculum redesign directly to AI‑driven task displacement and psychological well‑being.
- Influence channel: Advises UNESCO on lifelong‑learning frameworks that treat knowledge as a public good.
Cross‑Cutting Themes to Watch
- From wages to dividends: Shapiro, Meyer, and Brynjolfsson each propose mechanisms—whether kilowatt taxes, tokenised assets, or AI‑rent sharing—to replace shrinking payroll income.
- Good automation vs. excessive automation: Acemoglu and Autor stress steering technology toward job‑creating complementarities; Srnicek suggests using labour power (e.g., higher minimum wages) to nudge firms.
- Culture and meaning post‑work: Bastani’s FALC narrative and Gorbis’s foresight work highlight the need to rebuild purpose, not just income.
Why “most influential” changes fast.
Breakthroughs in generative AI have compressed the research‑to‑policy cycle; new cost curves can up‑end fiscal assumptions in months, not years. Expect fresh names to surface as empirical results from UBI pilots, shorter‑week trials, and AI‑enabled productivity studies accumulate.
All profiles are based on publicly available information current to 22 June 2025. If you spot a factual error or a new study we should include, please let us know via the contact form on ThorstenMeyerAI.com.
