Phil Trammell

Relational Work and Capital Ownership May Decide Who Gains From AGI

Economists Alex Imas and Phil Trammell argue that the central question after AGI is not simply which jobs machines can do, but what remains scarce once machine-made goods become cheap and varied. In a conversation with Dwarkesh Patel, they frame labor’s future around demand for human involvement, capital-produced variety, and whether people or future agents satiate on machine-made goods. They also argue that redistribution will depend less on generic transfers than on whether households and countries can hold claims on the assets that capture AI surplus.