"The weirdest thing of all in economics, says Brandeis University Economics Professor Benjamin Shiller, is that weirdness is closely tied to fate in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The weirder you are, he tells Fortune, the better off you'll be. In his new book " AI Economics: How Technology Transforms Jobs, Markets, Life, and Our Future," Shiller, argues that the more bizarre your job, the less likely that AI will take it."
"A specialist in the economics of technological change-and the son of a famous economist in his own right, Yale's Robert Shiller, the co-creator of a national home price index still in use today, Shiller tells Fortune that the future of employment is weird. "AI models can learn stuff really well but only with a massive amount of training data as humans are much more efficient learners," Shiller says."
Old English 'weird' originally meant destiny or fate and was linked to Norse Norns who wove the wyrd; the term carried through cultural references like the Weird Sisters and later popular culture reuse. Artificial intelligence performs strongly where massive training datasets exist, enabling pattern learning and automation. Niche, bizarre, or highly specialized occupations often lack large datasets, reducing AI's ability to replicate those roles. Humans remain more efficient learners in low-data settings, preserving demand for idiosyncratic skills. Consequently, employment prospects shift toward unusual jobs that resist automation, reshaping market incentives and career planning in an AI-driven economy.
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