17 July, 2026

This week, more than 200 economists and technology leaders signed a statement warning that AI could drive an unprecedented transformation of the economy, potentially larger than the Industrial Revolution but over a much shorter period. It calls on economists, policymakers and technology leaders to build the incentives, guardrails and institutions needed to steer AI in a direction that complements humans and benefits society.

The statement is right to frame this as a societal issue. But it says little about what action should actually be taken, or who should be responsible for leading it. That may be because the disruption itself is still difficult to define, but it’s increasingly clear that we do not have the luxury of time to wait for this to be clearer before we act.

We wrote a few weeks ago about an interesting alliance between tech companies and NGOs, which has raised $500 million to try and find ways to ease the workplace transition, demonstrating a waking up to the idea that these companies may have some responsibility for the revolution they are releasing.

But there’s obviously a question about whether this is enough.

It’s not just the pace of change but also the nature of it which is raising alarm bells. A recent article in the New York Times paints a Kafka-esque picture of how professionals may be contributing to making themselves obsolete, as AI companies use lawyers, doctors, academics, engineers and other highly skilled workers to train, test and improve models for work that requires judgement, expertise and specialist knowledge. Title of the piece? “The work of helping AI destroy work.”

We’re used to helping companies identify their impacts and work to manage them. It’s the bread-and-butter of sustainability. So, for us this is a familiar challenge, on a turbo-charged scale. Surely the AI companies whose products are creating this epoch-defining change need to be facing resolutely in to how they can help society manage its implications – some undoubtedly good, but many coming with potentially destructive force.

By Tulika Agarwal