Introducing the OpenAI Economic Research Exchange
OpenAI has launched the Economic Research Exchange, a new program to support external research on the economic impacts of AI. It aims to generate credible, independent evidence on how AI affects various sectors through collaborations with researchers. The program emphasizes rigorous empirical research and the use of OpenAI tools and datasets while ensuring privacy and responsible data use.
AI is fundamentally changing how people work, how businesses operate, and how new ideas are formed and shared. Understanding these profound shifts requires more than just anecdotal observations; it demands rigorous empirical research backed by real-world evidence. This research needs to be conducted by a diverse and broad community of experts.
To address this need, OpenAI has unveiled the OpenAI Economic Research Exchange. This new platform is designed to foster high-impact external research into the economic effects of AI. It will facilitate structured, project-based collaborations between selected researchers and OpenAI Economic Research, with a focus on generating credible and independent insights.
The program is actively seeking proposals that address critical questions regarding AI's economic impacts. Researchers are encouraged to outline how the ethical and privacy-protected application of OpenAI's tools can contribute to answering these questions. The goal is to enable robust and reliable research that extends beyond traditional datasets, leveraging OpenAI's resources while strictly maintaining user privacy and responsible data handling.
Selected researchers will embark on clearly defined projects, complete with established milestones, data governance protocols, and review processes. OpenAI welcomes proposals from researchers with strong empirical skills and relevant expertise in fields such as causal inference, labor economics, productivity, and regional economics, among others.
This initiative complements OpenAI’s existing efforts, such as OpenAI Signals, which aim to better measure the economic effects of AI. By supporting a diverse portfolio of external research partnerships, the Exchange seeks to expand the body of evidence available to researchers, policymakers, businesses, and the public, helping them navigate this era of rapid technological advancement.
Proposals will be evaluated based on their methodological rigor, feasibility, alignment with the Exchange's priorities, clarity of milestones, and their potential to contribute credible, independent evidence on AI's economic impacts. Applications are open until July 5, 2026, with selected researchers to be notified by July 31, 2026.
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