7 days ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
AI Can't Replace Free Markets
Imagine artificial intelligence controlling the economy. That's the future envisioned in three recent manifestos. Law professor Ted Parson introduces 'Max,' an AI that overlays markets with Pigouvian price tweaks—taxes here, subsidies there—until every externality is neutralized. Computer scientist Spyridon Samothrakis proposes a mesh of data hubs and reinforcement-learning schedulers to guide economic coordination, resource allocation, and production. And economist Leo Schlichter argues that an AI system could reduce output, respect ecological limits, and meet human needs through participatory dashboards and feedback loops. Their pitch is straightforward: AI can help to augment or even replace the function of prices and the free market that generates them.
Not so fast.
