The risks and opportunities of advanced AI are evolving at unprecedented speed—and economists play a crucial role in shaping how society prepares for this transformation. This intensive 5-day course is designed for economists who want to rapidly develop their understanding of transformative AI and its economic impacts.

Through expert-facilitated discussions and carefully curated materials, you’ll explore the technical foundations of AI, examine potential economic futures, and debate key ideas alongside other economists passionate about ensuring AI benefits humanity. By the end of the week, you’ll have both the knowledge and network to begin contributing to this emerging field.

We’ll accept applications on a rolling basis and have 20 spots available per course.

Why do the course

You’ll learn about the foundational arguments. It is difficult to know where to start when trying to understand transformative AI’s economic impacts. The course will give you the structure and accountability you need to explore how AI could reshape markets, labor, and growth, while giving you a rich conceptual map of the field.

Your learning is facilitated by experts. Your facilitator will help you navigate the course content, develop your own views on each topic, and foster constructive debate between you and fellow participants.

You’ll learn alongside others. Your group will be made up of economists from diverse backgrounds, from academia to policy to industry, all bringing their unique expertise and perspectives to the discussions. Many participants form long-lasting and meaningful connections, that support them to take their first steps in the field.

You’ll be supported to take your next steps. This could involve pursuing a research projects, applying for programmes and jobs, or doing further independent study. We maintain relationships with a large network of organisations and will share opportunities with you. Additionally, with your permission, we can help make connections between you and recruiters at top organisations.

You’ll join 2000+ course alumni. We’ve helped thousands of people learn via our AI Safety Fundamentals courses. You’ll gain access to this network, and to many others who join in future rounds of the course.

Who this course is for

We think this course will particularly be able to help you if:

• You thrive in an intensive learning environment. If you enjoy rapid, focused immersion and want to upskill in a short amount of time, this course is designed for you.
  
• You have an economics background through current work, research, or graduate studies in economics – whether in academia, government or industry.
• You’re concerned about humanity’s economic readiness for transformative AI and want to explore concrete ways to contribute to ensuring its positive impact

No technical background is required—we welcome economists from all specialities who are committed to understanding and addressing the economic implications of advanced AI systems. The course benefits from diverse perspectives and expertise.

Not sure if you’re the right fit? We encourage you to apply! We take a holistic approach to evaluating applications and value diverse perspectives and backgrounds.

What this course is not

This course might not be right for you if you are looking for:

• A broad overview of AI’s societal impact. While these are important topics, we specifically focus on the economics impacts from increasingly capable AI systems.
• A course to teach you general programming, machine learning or AI skills. While we’ll cover the necessary technical foundations, this isn’t a programming or machine learning course. Our resources page lists a number of courses and textbooks that can help with this.

Course Structure

This course runs for 5 consecutive days with curated readings and facilitated discussions. The time commitment for the week is around 15 hours, so you can engage with the course alongside full-time work or study.

Each day, you’ll work through the course curriculum, combining core content from our established AI safety courses – which were developed with AI safety experts from the University of Cambridge and OpenAI.

Each unit involves 2 hours of independent learning, plus a 1.5 hour facilitated group discussion (via video call, which we’ll arrange at a time that suits you).

The group discussions are where you work through activities with your group of around 5 other participants. These discussions are facilitated by an expert in AI safety, who can help you navigate the field and answer questions.

If accepted onto the course, we’ll ask for your availability so we can find a time slot that suits you (including evening discussions). There’s flexibility to change discussion times in case your availability changes.

Compared to studying the curriculum independently, participants tell us they really value the live group discussions as the facilitator helps create an engaging discussion space, the activities are designed to enable effective learning, and you develop deep relationships with highly motivated peers.

Dates

The course runs from Monday to Friday. We will close applications on the Thursday before the course starts and make application decisions by the Friday before the course starts.

We will likely run more rounds of the course, but for now, these are the confirmed dates.

Application process

Apply through our online application form, and you should receive an email confirmation a few minutes after you send your application.

We’ll accept applications on a rolling basis and have 20 spots available per course.

We will close applications on the Thursday before the course starts and make application decisions by the Friday before the course starts. Do keep an eye on your emails during this time, as if accepted we’ll need you to confirm your place. All legitimate emails regarding the course will come from @bluedot.org.

If you have any questions about applying for the course, do contact us.

Application tips

We take a holistic approach to evaluating applications that consider a number of factors we think are important to getting the most from the course.

That said, some general tips can help ensure you’re putting your best foot forward:

• When talking about projects you’ve done, focus on your specific contributions to those projects, rather than explaining details about the project itself.
• If you include any links in your application, make sure the link is correct and can be accessed publicly. Opening the link in an Incognito or Private Browsing window is a good way to test this. It’s also often helpful to give us a summary of the highlights or takeaways we should get from what you’ve linked us to.
• Before you hit ‘Submit’, review your answers and double check they are answering the question asked. Additionally, make sure your contact information (especially your email address) is correct.

We don’t have an article specific to this course, but we have also analysed the common mistakes made in applications to our AI alignment and AI governance courses, most of which also apply here!

Requirements

• 15 hours of availability during the week to engage with the course
• A reliable internet connection and webcam (built-in is fine) to join video calls
• English language skills sufficient to constructively engage in live group discussions

Earning a certificate

If you attend all discussions and complete the required independent learning, you’ll earn a certificate of completion.

Optional payment

There is no mandatory payment for this course. If you would like to, you will have the option at the end of the course to pay an amount that you are comfortable with and that you feel reflects the value that the course has brought to you.

BlueDot Impact Ltd, the organisation that runs this course, is a non-profit based in the UK and is entirely philanthropically funded. This course costs us roughly £600 per participant to run, and any payment you make would be used to subsidise places for future participants on our courses.

Running independent versions of the course

The official course is run by BlueDot Impact – a non-profit that supports people to develop the knowledge, skills and connections they need to pursue a high-impact career.

Friends, workplace groups, student societies and other local organisations are welcome to run versions of our courses. Provided you follow our guidance, you can use the public curriculum and these discussion docs.

Any other questions?

If you’re not sure whether to apply, we recommend that you put in an application. If you have any other questions do contact us!

Apply now View curriculum