多名消息人士指出，OpenAI 经济研究团队近一年在发布突显 AI 对就业与经济负面影响的研究上变得谨慎，导致至少两名成员离职，其中资深研究员 Tom Cunningham 在 9 月离开，批评团队正从严谨分析转向替公司背书的倡议角色。公司则强调自聘任首席经济学家 Aaron Chatterji 后，只是扩大研究范围，须同时提出问题并「打造解方」。
OpenAI 过去自 2016 年起持续释出劳动市场与自家模型影响的研究，2023 年合著的「GPTs Are GPTs」更广受引用，但两名消息来源称，过去一年公司对揭露裁员、工作位移等负面经济结果的研究愈发保守，倾向发布正面成果。相对地，竞争对手 Anthropic 则公开预测，AI 可能在 2030 年前自动化多达一半初阶白领工作，主动引发政策辩论。
报导指出，OpenAI 在与企业与各国政府签下数十亿美元合作的同时，愈来愈重视政治与公关布局，其经济研究现在由向全球事务长 Chris Lehane 报告的 Chatterji 统筹。最新企业用户调查宣称，OpenAI 产品平均每天为使用者节省 40 至 60 分钟，并称企业仍有大量导入空间；然而在更广泛的政治环境中，约 44% 美国年轻人担心 AI 将减少工作机会，矽谷业者则投入约 1 亿美元游说以避免更严格监管。
Sources say OpenAI’s economics group has grown more reluctant over the past year to publish work emphasizing AI’s negative labor and macroeconomic impacts, contributing to at least two departures, including senior researcher Tom Cunningham in September, who warned of a shift from rigorous analysis toward de facto advocacy. OpenAI counters that since hiring its first chief economist, Aaron Chatterji, it has only broadened the team’s mandate to highlight both problems and solutions as a leading “actor in the world.”
Since 2016 OpenAI has regularly released labor-focused studies, including the widely cited 2023 paper “GPTs Are GPTs,” but two sources claim recent internal work documenting job displacement risks is now less likely to be shared, while more positive findings are favored. By contrast, rival Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei has repeatedly forecast that AI could automate up to half of entry-level white-collar jobs by 2030, a stance that has drawn sharp criticism from the Trump administration but aims to spur public debate.
As OpenAI deepens multibillion-dollar partnerships with corporations and governments, its economics team now reports into chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane, underscoring tight integration with political strategy. A new OpenAI report touts survey data that enterprise users save an average of 40 to 60 minutes per day with its tools and that there is significant headroom for adoption. Meanwhile, roughly 44 percent of young Americans fear AI will reduce job opportunities, even as Silicon Valley funds around $100 million in lobbying to fend off strict state-level AI regulations.