Artificial intelligence is no longer just a concept in the workplace. From automated hiring tools to generative technologies, AI is altering how work gets done — and raising urgent questions about who benefits and who, and what, may be left behind.

Such questions will take center stage at the University of Richmond on Feb. 5, when two of the nation’s leading economists bring distinct and contrasting perspectives to a conversation about the future of work in the age of AI.

AI and The Future of Work, which is part of the University’s Sharp Viewpoint Speaker Series, brings together David Autor of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a leading scholar of how technology reshapes labor markets, and Anton Korinek of the University of Virginia, named to the 2025 TIME100 AI list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. Moderated by University of Richmond President Kevin F. Hallock, a labor market economist and Distinguished University Professor of Economics, the discussion will explore what AI means not only for productivity and innovation, but for workers, wages, and human flourishing. “Universities must ask how we can best prepare our students for success in their lives and careers in the age of AI,” Hallock said. “Some people are excited about the promise of AI; some are anxious about what AI means for their future, for their children’s future, for our society’s future. I’m thrilled we will host these incredible scholars to share different perspectives and help our community think about these things in ways we hadn’t considered before.”

Autor, the Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is widely known for his research on the labor-market impacts of technological change, including job polarization and inequality.

Korinek, a professor in the University of Virginia’s Department of Economics and Darden School of Business, focuses on the economics of transformative AI and its long-term implications for society and public policy.