Danielle Wood is an Australian economist and the current chair of the Australian Productivity Commission.

Had a lot of fun chatting with Dani about how she's making sense of AI and its implications for policy. We discuss:

  • whether AI will be more like the internet or the Industrial Revolution,
  • where in the AI stack the profits will ultimately flow (and why it might not be the model layer),
  • why diffusion is the "main game" for Australian policymakers,
  • whether there's a case for government support of data centres,
  • why the AI jobpocalypse story is too crude (and why humans may still have jobs even under transformative AI),
  • whether AI will turn out to be a normal or abnormal technology, or both,
  • and why in either case Australia shouldn't follow the EU in legislating an AI Act.

Sponsors

  • Effective Altruism Australia: how Australians give to GiveWell's top charities — tax-deductibly, and with 100% pass-through. Until June 30, 2026, EAA is matching new donations up to $300,000. Donate at https://www.eaa.org.au/joewalker.
  • e61: a non-partisan economic research institute focused on Australian public policy. To receive a copy of the new essay I co-authored with e61 on data centres and the compute economy, go to https://www.e61.in/joewalker.
  • Vanta: helps businesses automate security and compliance needs. For a limited time, get one thousand dollars off Vanta at https://www.vanta.com/joe. Use the discount code "JOE".

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