Papers
13
Total Citations
883
H-Index
8
About
Robert Seamans is a leading scholar at the intersection of artificial intelligence, robotics, and economics, whose work has fundamentally shaped how researchers and policymakers understand the economic consequences of emerging technologies. Best known for his influential 2018 paper "AI and the Economy" — which has accumulated nearly 450 citations — Seamans helped establish a rigorous empirical foundation for studying AI's macroeconomic footprint, drawing on robotics shipment data, patent counts, and AI startup activity to document the technology's rapid rise. His widely-read "Primer on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics" (2019, 160 citations) has become an essential entry point for scholars across economics and management studying these transformative technologies. A consistent thread throughout his research is the call for better firm-level data: his work on AI, labor, and productivity has persistently highlighted the limitations of aggregate statistics and pushed for more granular measurement tools, even contributing to the development of official US Census Bureau survey questions on robotics expenditures. More recent work exploring robot concentration in US manufacturing "hubs" and the health consequences of automation in China demonstrates his expanding global and distributional lens, cementing his reputation as one of the field's most productive and policy-relevant voices.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1AI and the Economy449 citations · 2018
- 2Primer on artificial intelligence and robotics160 citations · 2019
- 3AI, Labor, Productivity and the Need for Firm-Level Data100 citations · 2018
- 4AI, Labor, Productivity, and the Need for Firm-Level Data65 citations · 2019
- 5AI and the Economy32 citations · 2018
- 6
- 7Pain or anxiety? The health consequences of rising robot adoption in China16 citations · 2024
- 8Robot Hubs: The Skewed Distribution of Robots in US Manufacturing13 citations · 2023
- 9AI and the Economy7 citations · 2018
- 10