OpenAI’s economic research operation is facing scrutiny after WIRED reported that some current and former collaborators believe the company has become more careful about releasing work that emphasizes the possible negative effects of AI on the economy.
The issue is not only whether AI will change work. It is also who gets to define the public evidence about that change, especially when the company producing the research is also building and deploying the technology being studied.
What WIRED Reported
According to WIRED, four people familiar with the matter said OpenAI has allegedly become more guarded about publishing research that focuses on the potentially negative impact AI could have on the economy. The same four people said the perceived shift contributed to at least two recent departures from OpenAI’s economic research team.
One of those employees was Tom Cunningham, who left the company entirely in September. WIRED reported that Cunningham had concluded it had become difficult to publish high-quality research. In an internal parting message described by sources familiar with the situation, he wrote that the team faced a growing tension between rigorous analysis and becoming a de facto advocacy arm for OpenAI.
Cunningham declined WIRED’s request for comment.
OpenAI chief strategy officer Jason Kwon responded internally after Cunningham’s departure. In a memo obtained by WIRED, Kwon argued that OpenAI has a responsibility not only to identify problems with AI but also to “build the solutions.”
“My POV on hard subjects is not that we shouldn’t talk about them,” Kwon said on Slack. “Rather, because we are not just a research institution, but also an actor in the world (the leading actor in fact) that puts the subject of inquiry (AI) into the world, we are expected to take agency for the outcomes.”
OpenAI’s View Of Its Research Role
OpenAI spokesperson Rob Friedlander told WIRED that the company hired its first chief economist, Aaron Chatterji, last year and has expanded the scope of its economic research since then.
Friedlander said the team’s work is meant to help OpenAI, policymakers, and the public understand how AI is being used and how it is affecting the broader economy. He said that includes studying where benefits are appearing and where societal impacts or disruptions may arise as the technology develops.
That framing matters because OpenAI is not only publishing analysis. The company is also deepening multibillion-dollar partnerships with corporations and governments, which WIRED described as part of its growing role in the global economy. Experts believe OpenAI’s technology could transform how people work, while major questions remain about timing, scale, and effects on people and markets.
OpenAI has a history of releasing research on labor and its own systems. Since 2016, it has published work on how its technology could reshape labor and shared data with outside economists. In 2023, it copublished “GPTs Are GPTs,” a widely cited paper examining which sectors were likely to be most exposed to automation.
The Dispute Over What Gets Published
The core allegation in WIRED’s report is about emphasis. Two sources said that over the past year OpenAI has grown more reluctant to release work highlighting economic downsides of AI, including job displacement, and has instead favored positive findings.
An outside economist who previously worked with OpenAI also told WIRED that the company is increasingly publishing work that presents its technology favorably. That economist spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier this week, OpenAI published a report based on a survey of enterprise users. Those users said the company’s AI products saved them an average of 40 to 60 minutes of time a day. The report also said companies across the economy have “significant headroom” to increase AI adoption.
WIRED noted that this is not the first time OpenAI researchers have raised concerns about publishing constraints. Miles Brundage, OpenAI’s former head of policy research, left in October of 2024 and said the company’s high-profile position made it “hard for me to publish on all the topics that are important to me.” He also said that while some constraints are expected, he felt OpenAI had become too restrictive.
Why AI Jobs Research Is Politically Sensitive
Research about AI and jobs now lands in a charged environment. WIRED wrote that publishing gloomy statistics about AI’s possible economic effects could complicate OpenAI’s public image. The Trump administration has championed AI’s potential, while White House advisers have pushed back against claims that the technology will eliminate jobs.
Public anxiety is part of the backdrop. According to a November survey from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics, roughly 44 percent of young people in the US fear that AI will reduce job opportunities.
There is also a broader debate about how much authority leading AI labs should have to describe the risks and capabilities of systems they are racing to deploy. WIRED reported that Silicon Valley leaders have mounted $100 million lobbying campaigns against proposed state-level AI regulations that could limit the industry.
OpenAI’s reported caution also contrasts with Anthropic. WIRED wrote that Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly warned that AI could automate up to half of entry-level white-collar jobs by 2030. He has framed those warnings as a way to encourage public debate about workforce change. The Trump administration has sharply criticized those claims, and David Sacks, the White House special adviser for AI and crypto, accused Anthropic of running a “sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering.”
Where The Research Team Fits Inside OpenAI
OpenAI’s economic research is currently managed by Aaron Chatterji, who led a significant September report on how people around the world use ChatGPT. Cunningham is listed as an author on that report. WIRED noted that the report came months after Anthropic published a similar paper on how people use Claude.
Sources told WIRED that Chatterji reports to Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer. WIRED described this as evidence that the team is tightly integrated with OpenAI’s political and policy strategy.
Lehane previously worked at Airbnb, where he helped the company defeat Prop F, a San Francisco ballot measure that would have severely restricted Airbnb’s ability to operate. He also served as special assistant counsel to former President Bill Clinton, where he earned a reputation as the “master of disaster.”
The result is a difficult balance. OpenAI says its research helps explain how AI is being used and where its benefits and disruptions may appear. Critics and former insiders described by WIRED worry that the company’s role as a major AI actor can shape what research reaches the public, especially when the topic is as consequential as AI jobs, automation, and economic disruption.