Google Expands AI & Economy Team With Nobel Laureate Philippe Aghion

Summary

Google expanded its AI & Economy Research Program on September 18, 2026, following the launch of the open access AI & Economy ATLAS v1.0, which tracks how people use Google AI tools at work and in daily life. The program will measure work, productivity, growth, global technology diffusion and scientific discovery in real time, with future ATLAS updates intended to guide organizations, workers, researchers and policymakers.

Philippe Aghion, the 2025 Nobel laureate in economics and a professor at INSEAD and the Collège de France, becomes an academic advisor alongside Michael Spence and Cambridge’s Dame Diane Coyle, applying his research on innovation led growth and creative destruction. University of Toronto Rotman professor Ajay Agrawal becomes a visiting fellow, collaborating with MIT economics chair David Autor on AI economics, scientific discovery, robotics and human welfare.

Two new directors will lead empirical work. Anu Madgavkar joins after a 20 year career at McKinsey Global Institute and advisory work involving governments, businesses, the World Economic Forum and United Nations; she will study global AI diffusion, small businesses and generative AI’s workforce effects. Wharton economist, AI2050 Early Career Fellow and MIT Digital Fellow Daniel Rock will combine frontier model telemetry with econometrics to examine enterprise productivity, labor restructuring and scientific discovery. They join Alex Imas, Google DeepMind’s director of AGI Economics, and Zanna Iscenko in Google’s Chief Economist’s Office. The team will identify organizational practices, policies and training programs intended to upskill workers, broaden expertise and spread AI’s economic gains.