Junior AGI Economics Research Associate
The Pitch
You will build toy economic simulations to watch capitalism break in interesting ways when AGI shows up. Not because you understand the economy. Because you don't.
The Anti-Pitch
No, you will not solve the economy. You will not predict the future. You are here to build tiny models, watch them fail, and write down what surprised you.
What You'll Actually Do
- -Build simple agent-based economic simulations
- -Research and summarize obscure economics papers
- -Test assumptions about how humans behave when robots take their jobs
- -Break your own models in creative ways
Output Expectations
Messy notebooks, surprising visualizations, and one document titled "What I Got Wrong This Week".
The 20-Day Journey
Onboarding Without Pretending
Read foundational papers. Ask naive questions. Realize how little anyone actually knows.
First Toy Model
Build something tiny. Watch it behave badly. Document the chaos.
Research & Iteration
Summarize 5 papers. Break your model 10 different ways. Notice patterns.
Translation & Exposure
Explain your weirdest finding to non-economists. Attend cross-team meetings. Listen more than talk.
The "What Surprised Me" Note
Write what you learned. No grand conclusions. Just honest observations.
How You Know It's Working
- -You ask questions that make PhDs pause
- -You are wrong in interesting ways
- -You build legible toy models that actually run
- -You can explain complex ideas to your roommate
Why This Matters
Why Now
The economy is about to get very weird. We need people thinking about it before it happens, not after.
The Goal
You're not here to be right. You're here to become dangerous later.
What You Need
Required Mindset
- - Comfort with ambiguity and not knowing things
- - Basic Python (loops, functions, maybe pandas)
- - Ability to read academic papers without falling asleep
- - Strong writing - you'll explain weird stuff to normal people
Helpful Background
- - Economics, Math, Philosophy, or Computer Science major
- - History of playing SimCity or Factorio obsessively
- - Have read at least one book about complex systems
Not Required
No PhD. No prior research experience. No perfect GPA. Just curiosity that keeps you up at night.
Your Toolkit
Hard Tools
Soft Tools
- - Thinking out loud
- - Whiteboard sessions
- - Internal AI tools to stress-test ideas
Survival Skill
If you can Google competently and admit when you're confused, you're fine.
Try the next step
Use a real job posting to check its AI exposure, or build skills through a practical training project.