MIT Sloan School of Management

Writing for The Hill, Prof. Emeritus Henry Jacoby, former co-director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, and his colleagues make the case for a concerted scientific effort to better understand the risks posed by exceeding climate tipping points. “These risks are becoming more serious with every tenth of a degree of global warming,” they write. “Investment in a better understanding of tipping point risks might be the best investment humanity could now make in the effort to preserve a livable planet.”

Financial Times reporter Andrew Hill highlights “The Geek Way,” a new book by Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee that explores the success behind “geek” culture in companies. Hill notes that McAfee has, “pinpointed some important norms sustaining the world’s most admired, and fastest growing, organizations.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee speaks with Bloomberg hosts Carol Massar and Tim Steinbeck about his new book “The Geek Way” and the future of artificial intelligence. “I personally am not worried about the existential, the alignment risks of AI,” says McAfee. “All very powerful tools bring risks and harm with them, and they demand vigilance. We have got to be careful about it. I don’t think AI is any big exception to that trend or requires us to do radically different things, we just have to be vigilant and stop the bad uses.”

MIT Sloan Lecturer Shira Springer speaks with WBUR host Robin Young about the future of women’s sports coverage. “It does require extra effort on the part of the fan to find coverage on the streaming platforms,” says Springer. “And that is a problem because what you are trying to do in women’s sports is convert casual fans to avid fans and maybe bring in people who simply were not aware of what women’s sports offers, and to do what you need to be easily discoverable.”

Prof. Tavneet Suri discusses GiveDirectly, the world’s largest universal basic income (UBI) program, which has been providing almost 5,000 people in Kenya with “a payment of about 75 cents (62p) a day since 2017,” reports Philippa Kelley for The Guardian. “We do see people leaving low wage jobs,” says Suri. “They are going and starting businesses, and the businesses are doing great because there’s money around.”

Writing for CNBC, Senior Lecturer Tara Swart explains how an unexpected financial windfall can impact the brain. Swart says there, “are three remarkable things that happen to your brain when you unexpectedly receive a large sum of money overnight,” a dopamine deluge, the five stages of grief and a shift in perspective and social dynamics. 

Prof. Jonathan Parker speaks with Marketplace host Samantha Fields about the definition of discretionary spending and how it differs depending on the person and their financial situation. “People who don’t have to worry about money often buy things they think of as necessities, but really aren’t,” says Parker. “Cutting back on discretionary spending looks different for different people, too.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee speaks with CNBC about the contributing factors to a successful start-up company. “Incumbent industries and companies are so fond of really elaborate planning cycles and the geeks just build things, get feedback and do again on a fast cadence,” says McAfee.  

Writing for Fortune, Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee discusses his new book “The Geek Way,” and explains how the structure of Montessori schools are influencing modern day business and company culture. “A bunch of geeks are now doing for companies what Maria Montessori did for schools,” writes McAfee. “They’re reimagining them, improving them, and exposing false assumptions. A large and growing cohort of business leaders are now building very different companies — and, not coincidentally, very successful ones.”

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee discussed the impact of artificial intelligence and technology on businesses at the Fortune CFO Collaborative, reports Sheryl Estrada for Fortune. Generative AI is “going to diffuse throughout the economy,” said McAfee. “It’s going to separate winners from losers, and it’s going to turbocharge the winners faster than you and I have been expecting.”  

Prof. David Rand speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Christopher Mims about the impact of generative AI on the spread of misinformation. “When you show people deepfakes and generative AI, a lot of times they come out of the experiment saying, ‘I just don’t trust anything anymore,’” says Rand.

Writing for Fortune, Sloan research fellow Michael Schrage and his colleagues, explain how AI-enabled key performance indicators (KPIs) can help companies better understand and measure success. “Driving strategic alignment within their organization is an increasingly important priority for senior executives,” they write. “AI-enabled KPIs are powerful tools for achieving this. By getting their data right, using appropriate organizational constructs, and driving a cultural shift towards data-driven decision making, organizations can effectively govern the creation and deployment of AI-enabled KPIs." 

Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee writes for Fast Company about the makings of a successful corporate culture. “I’ve come to believe that the most fundamental reason Silicon Valley companies are disrupting so many industries is that they’ve iterated and experimented their way into a corporate culture that supports high levels of agility, innovation, and execution simultaneously,” writes McAfee. “I call this culture the geek way. It’s based on four norms expected by those around you (and not just the bosses).”

Prof. Pierre Azoulay speaks with Wall Street Journal reporter Bob Fernandez about new research that highlights how immigrant workers, “account for nearly one-in-five of the top 1% wage earners in the U.S.” Azoulay notes that: “One reason that immigrants do better is that they locate in places that are growing fast and the earnings potential are high. They do not randomly locate around the United States.”

Prof. Daron Acemoglu and Prof. Simon Johnson write for Project Syndicate about how to structure U.S. international trade policies so that they benefit American workers and global stability. “Two new principles can form the basis of U.S. policy. First, international trade should be structured in a way to encourage a stable world order,” they write. “Second, appealing to abstract 'gains of trade' is no longer enough. American workers need to see the benefits. Any trade arrangement that significantly undermines the quality and quantity of middle-class American jobs is bad for the country and its people, and will likely incite a political backlash.”