AI Economy Institute

Advising Fellows, guiding scholarship with issue-area expertise

Ensuring that the AI Economy Institute’s intellectual agenda is informed by deep expertise in the AI economy to guide research and amplify impact.

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Jan 13, 2026

The AI Economy Institute’s Advising Fellows are a distinguished group of global thought researchers who have expertise in the areas of the AI economy. Their participation in the AI Economy Institute helps to ensure scholarly rigor and reach across our cohorts. These experts play a pivotal role in shaping the AI Economy Institute’s intellectual agenda—bringing deep expertise in economics, technology, and workforce transformation to guide research and amplify impact.

Advising Fellows contribute far beyond proposal review. They participate in virtual and in-person convenings, contribute editorial insights, and help position the AI Economy Institute as a trusted source of evidence-based guidance on the future of education and work in an AI-driven economy. By affiliating with the AI Economy Institute, they accelerate the dissemination of research and ideas that inform policy, industry, and academia worldwide.

Advising fellows

Elizabeth J. Altman

University of Massachusetts–Lowell

Elizabeth J. Altman is Associate Professor of Management at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell’s Manning School of Business. She is a Research Affiliate with the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and a Nonresident Fellow at Brookings, and has held visiting appointments at Harvard Business School. Altman is lead author of Workforce Ecosystems (MIT Press, 2023), and her research explores organizational strategy and workforce transformation in the digital economy.

Gábor Békés

Central European University

Gábor Békés is Associate Professor at Central European University in the Department of Economics and Business. He is a Research Affiliate at CEPR and Senior Research Fellow at the KRTK Institute of Economics in Hungary. He co-authored Data Analysis for Business, Economics, and Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Daniel Björkegren

Columbia University

Daniel Björkegren is Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He leads the AI & Development initiative at Columbia’s Center for Development Economics and Policy and is affiliated with BREAD, J-PAL, and the Data Science Institute. Björkegren’s research examines the intersection of AI and development, including policy-relevant fieldwork in Africa.

Anders Humlum

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Anders Humlum is Assistant Professor of Economics and Fujimori/Mou Faculty Scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a Research Affiliate at IZA and previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Becker Friedman Institute. Humlum’s research focuses on the labor market impacts of automation and artificial intelligence.

Frank Nagle

MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy

Frank Nagle is a Research Scientist at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and advises the Linux Foundation as Chief Economist. He previously served as Assistant Professor of Strategy at Harvard Business School. Nagle’s work includes widely cited research estimating the multi-trillion-dollar economic value created by open-source software.

Gal Oestreicher-Singer

Tel Aviv University

Gal Oestreicher-Singer is Mexico Professor of Information Systems and Associate Dean for Research at the Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University. She is an Adjunct Professor at NYU Stern and has held senior editorial roles in MIS journals. Oestreicher-Singer’s research examines digital platforms, social networks, and e-commerce, and she is a recent recipient of the Kadar Family Award.

Daniel Rock

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania

Daniel Rock is Assistant Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a Digital Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and affiliated with NBER and Stanford’s Digital Economy Lab. Rock co-authored the Science article “GPTs are GPTs” (2024) and the AEJ: Macroeconomics paper on the “Productivity J Curve.”

Wesley Rosslyn Smith

University of Pretoria

Wesley Rosslyn Smith is Associate Professor in the Department of Business Management at the University of Pretoria and Director of the Centre for the Future of Work. He also lectures at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. Rosslyn Smith’s research and teaching focus on corporate strategy, turnaround management, business analytics, and the future of work.

Fabian Stephany

University of Oxford

Fabian Stephany is Departmental Research Lecturer in AI and Work at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Martin School and a Fellow at Bruegel, and co-created the Online Labour Observatory with the ILO. Stephany serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Capital Development.

Prasanna (Sonny) Tambe

The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania

Prasanna Tambe is Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he co-directs AI at Wharton. He is a Digital Fellow at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and affiliated with NBER. Tambe’s research explores the economics of technology and labor, including widely cited work on AI in human resource management.

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