The UK government has established AI Economics Institute (AIEI) and has agreed a joint collaboration agreement with Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Microsoft to build the evidence base on AI’s economic effects.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Simon Johnson, former Chief Economist of the IMF and co-director of MIT’s Stone Center on Inequality and Shaping the Future of Work, will serve as Chair of the Institute.

The government described the AIEI as the first government-backed research institution of its kind in the world. It follows the model established by the AI Security Institute (AISI) and incorporates DSIT’s existing Future of Work Unit.

“As the field of artificial intelligence is witnessing rapid growth, the Institute will strengthen the evidence base on how AI affects productivity, labour markets and growth. It will ensure that evidence reaches policymakers in the right form, at the right time,” the government said.

The government has agreed to collaborate with these companies to work toward evidence-based policymaking and responsible AI development.

“The research conducted by AIEI will be focused on building the evidence base needed to understand the economic impacts of artificial intelligence, including labor market impacts, productivity and growth, and inform government policy,” the UK government, Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and Microsoft said in a joint statement.

The government will establish a working group with the four companies by end of June 2026 to accelerate the Institute’s research agenda and subsequent partnership opportunities.

More than 20 companies including BT, Accenture and EDF have agreed to share data on AI use in the workplace, covering how they are supporting staff and adapting operations. The existing data-sharing partnership between the Future of Work Unit and LinkedIn will also transfer to the AIEI, adding labor market and skills trend data to the Institute’s research base, the government said.

Under the collaboration, frontier labs and the UK government will work to anticipate and shape AI’s economic impacts, and share insights on AI use and adoption across the UK economy, including data and analysis already published by the companies.

The Institute is a joint research organization of HM Treasury and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It will work with the Bank of England on economic modelling to assess the macroeconomic implications of AI development and adoption.

The institute will study how AI is affecting productivity, labor markets and growth. It will also examine whether gains are distributed equally across regions, income groups, sectors and generations, and whether opportunities are accessible regardless of background, gender or geography.

It will seek to avoid duplicating work already under way in academic or private sector settings.

The institute will perform two core functions – building and analyzing the evidence base, developing data infrastructure, measurement frameworks and empirical research to track AI’s economic effects; and developing models and scenarios to connect AI development and adoption pathways to economy-wide outcomes, stress-testing assumptions under conditions of uncertainty.

The Institute will engage with academia, frontier AI firms, wider business, employee groups, international organizations and analytical bodies.

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