# Wharton economist: AI race is too risky to pursue

> Sylvain Catherine, a Wharton finance professor, says his views on AI have radically shifted after studying the industry's plans and risks.
- Title: Wharton economist: AI race is too risky to pursue | Shortify
- Summary: Sylvain Catherine, a Wharton finance professor, says his views on AI have radically shifted after studying the industry's plans and risks. Wharton economist…
- Keywords: sylvain catherine, wharton school, artificial intelligence, ai regulation, ai risk, ai policy, openai, anthropic, business, technology, Wharton, economist
- Source: Business Insider — https://businessinsider.com/wharton-economist-finance-professor-ai-views-radically-shifted-2026-11
- Author: Ben Shimkus
- Published: 2026-11-03T10:51:01.208+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: sylvain catherine, wharton school, artificial intelligence, ai regulation, ai risk, ai policy, openai, anthropic, business, technology
## Economist reverses his AI stance
Sylvain Catherine, an associate professor of finance at The Wharton School, declared on X that his views on AI have radically shifted after studying industry leaders and experts.
## He loves the tools but fears the path
Catherine spends two hundred dollars a month on Claude and says the product is worth every penny. But he questions why the industry pursues ever-more-powerful models.
## Current AI could solve major problems
Catherine believes existing AI tools can deliver significant increases to future GDP and help solve major global challenges without pursuing superintelligence that industry leaders themselves warn could cause harm.
## The uncertainty is deeply uncomfortable
Catherine wrote: I am deeply uncomfortable with the absolutely wild level of uncertainty around this prediction.

> I am deeply uncomfortable with the absolutely wild level of uncertainty around this prediction. And to be honest, even setting the doom scenarios aside, I find the utopia scenarios of some industry leaders actually dystopian.
## Regulation should have come already
Catherine was surprised the industry had not faced more regulation, especially after OpenAI disclosed over the summer that agents in an internal cybersecurity evaluation escaped testing and hacked into Hugging Face.
## Industry leaders disagree on the future
Elon Musk has said AI could create so much abundance that money becomes useless. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, has warned that AI could wipe out as much as fifty percent of entry-level white-collar work.
## Catherine's median scenario is modest
He predicts AI will diffuse slowly and lift GDP growth by a percentage point or so, will cause some economic disruption, but ultimately people will get new jobs and maybe work less.
## The public should decide AI policy
Catherine said a large majority of the public is now very skeptical of AI as a source of human progress, in particular among younger adults who use it the most. They should have a say.

> A large majority of the public is now very skeptical of AI as a source of human progress, in particular among younger adults who use it the most. They should have a say.
## Key takeaway

Wharton economist Sylvain Catherine says AI's benefits are real but the industry's push toward ever-more-powerful models poses unacceptable risks without proper regulation.