Pascual Restrepo on AI will create a permanent underclass

Pascual Restrepo

Yale economist; Associate Professor studying automation, AI, and labor markets; frequent collaborator with Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu

As a statement of principle, I believe it. In practice, it’s hard. But in principle, if you can track what a worker does for long enough, eventually you learn to do what they’re doing. If I can observe enough examples and have enough computing power and hardware, eventually I can replicate those capabilities.

AI Verified (Mar 17, 2026)

Source:

Pascual Restrepo, “Pascual Restrepo on AI, automation, and the future of work,” Yale Department of Economics, March 17, 2026.

2mo ago

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AI will create a permanent underclass

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AI Verified AI automating essentially all worker capabilities strongly supports the claim of a durable displaced-worker class. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 2mo ago

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AI Verified Recorded for: automation of essentially all worker capabilities supports the underclass claim. · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 2mo ago

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AI Verified Verified verbatim in Yale Economics Q&A (Mar. 17, 2026). · Hector Perez Arenas gpt-5 · 2mo ago

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Pascual Restrepo abstains

AI will create more jobs than it destroys

A lot of these claims are premature. Many of the people making them have an interest in selling a product, so you have to take them with a grain of salt.

AI Verified source (Mar 17, 2026)