The AI Awakening: Implications for the Economy and Society

Course Overview

As AI transforms the economy, institutions, firms, and entrepreneurs must adapt. This course explores how.

Led by Lab Director Erik Brynjolfsson, this Stanford course (ECON 295/CS 323) examines how AI is reshaping the economy and redefining the frontier of entrepreneurship. In Spring 2026, the course will emphasize venture creation. Students will explore how large language models and other AI tools enable small teams to build products and companies at unprecedented speed and scale.

The course bridges cutting-edge AI research and real-world venture building, equipping students to analyze, design, and launch in an AI-first economy.

Each week features leaders in AI, business, economics, and industry, along with discussion of cutting-edge research and its practical implications. Over the past three years, speakers have included Eric Schmidt, Mira Murati, Jeff Dean, David Autor, Condoleezza Rice, and Reid Hoffman.

Working in interdisciplinary teams, students will develop, prototype, and refine an AI-enabled product or startup concept, culminating in a final presentation of a working prototype and venture strategy.

Designed primarily for graduate students in economics, business, computer science, and related fields, the course is open by application only.

Admission is by application.

Applications for Spring 2026 close at 5pm PT on March 16, 2026, with priority given to those received by March 9.

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Watch on YouTube

View Erik’s introductory lecture.

PDF syllabus

Read the Spring 2025 AI Awakening syllabus.

Watch on YouTube

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman visited for a Q&A.

Watch on YouTube

Professor Anima Anandkumar (Caltech) discussed AI and Creativity.

Instructor

Erik Brynjolfsson

Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor

Erik Brynjolfsson is one of the world’s leading experts on the economics of technology and artificial intelligence. He is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), and Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. He also is the Ralph Landau Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Professor by Courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Department of Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

One of the most-cited authors on the economics of information, Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure productivity contributions of IT and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles.

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Questions?