Erik Brynjolfsson becomes honorary doctor at Uppsala University
Erik Brynjolfsson
Erik Brynjolfsson will become an honorary doctor at the Faculty of Social Sciences when Uppsala University's winter graduation ceremony takes place on January 30, 2026. On January 29, installation lectures will be held in the University Main Building.
Erik Brynjolfsson is a leading authority on the economics of technology and AI. He is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), as well as Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. A pioneering voice in the economics of information, Brynjolfsson was among the first to quantify IT’s impact on productivity and to highlight the importance of intangibles such as organisational capital.
The honorary doctor lectures for the Faculty of Social Sciences will take place on January 29 in the University Main building. Duncan Ross and Erik Bynjolfsson, both of whom will be accepted as honorary doctors at the faculty in 2026, will speak. Read more about the honorary doctorate lecture in the fact box below in English.
Honorary doctor lectures
”AI, Productivity and Work: Early Evidence and a Research Agenda for Transformative AI."
Erik Brynjolfsson
Advances in artificial intelligence—especially generative AI—are transforming how work is organized, how value is created, and who benefits. In this lecture, I will present emerging evidence on the productivity effects of AI, drawing on firm- and worker-level studies. I will connect this to new approaches to measuring welfare, including GDP-B, and discuss how they can better capture the consumer and quality benefits of AI that traditional metrics miss. I will highlight how AI is already reshaping tasks, wages, and career trajectories—especially for early-career, highly exposed workers—underscoring both opportunities and risks. I conclude by outlining a research agenda for the economics of transformative AI and sketching a path where AI augments human capabilities and expands the space for creativity, learning, and meaningful work.
Facts
An honorary doctorate, doctor honoris causa, is the title conferred upon individuals who have done outstanding academic work or in some other way promoted research at the University. The title is always in the gift of the faculties themselves, not the Vice-Chancellor or anyone else in the University Management.