Daniel Susskind

Dr Daniel Susskind is an economist, bestselling author, and leading voice on artificial intelligence, work, and economic transformation. He serves as Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College, a Digital Fellow at Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and advises the UK Government's Future of Work Unit on AI's impact on employment. His book, Growth: A Reckoning, was named a favourite of 2024 by President Barack Obama, whilst What Should My Children Do?  will offer a practical guide to preparing the next generation for an AI-driven world. Through rigorous research and accessible insight, he helps organisations and leaders understand how AI reshapes tasks, industries, and opportunity, equipping them to build strategies that support their people and thrive amid technological change.

When President Barack Obama named Growth: A Reckoning among his favourite books of 2024, he drew global attention to the work of Dr Daniel Susskind, an economist who has spent fifteen years researching how artificial intelligence, technological change, and economic forces are reshaping the world of work and human prosperity. Dr Susskind's scholarship tackles the most urgent questions facing societies today: how to reconcile the benefits of economic progress with its social and environmental costs, how to prepare for labour markets transformed by automation, and how individuals, organisations, and governments can equip themselves for an uncertain future. His ability to translate complex economic research into actionable insight has made him one of the most influential voices on technology, work, and societal change.

Dr Susskind serves as the Mercers' School Memorial Professor of Business at Gresham College, a Digital Fellow at the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and a Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Ethics in AI at Oxford University, where he also holds an Associate Membership in the Economics Department. He is a Research Professor at King's College London and provides expert input to the UK Government's newly established Future of Work Unit, created to help Britain understand and respond to AI's impact on employment. His 2024 book, Growth: A Reckoning, was runner-up for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year and praised by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown as a "tour de force" and by Andy Haldane, former Governor of the Bank of England, as "a wonderfully elegant and authoritative explanation" of the most important economic issue of our time. His 2020 work, A World Without Work, was described by the New York Times as "required reading" for anyone thinking about the economy of the future, whilst his co-authored book, The Future of the Professions, challenges how lawyers, doctors, and teachers must evolve in the 21st century. His TED Talk has been viewed over 1.6 million times. Before his academic career, Dr Susskind worked in the British Government as a policy adviser in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, the Policy Unit at 10 Downing Street, and the Cabinet Office. He holds a Doctorate in Economics from Oxford University and was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard. His forthcoming book, What Should My Children Do?, offers a bold, evidence-based guide to preparing the next generation for an AI-driven world, addressing what young people should learn, what skills matter most, and how to seize opportunity rather than retreat from technological change.

Dr Susskind equips audiences with a clear understanding of how AI and automation affect tasks, industries, and opportunity, moving beyond the narrow debate of whether machines will destroy or create jobs. He helps leaders, policymakers, and professionals recognise that technology does not simply eliminate roles but reshapes the nature of work itself, displacing people from certain tasks whilst making others more valuable and important. His presentations combine rigorous research with accessible storytelling, offering actionable frameworks for rethinking education, reorganising careers, and building organisations that thrive amid profound change. Whether addressing boardrooms, conferences, or public forums, he leaves audiences better prepared to navigate complexity, challenge outdated assumptions, and develop strategies that reflect the realities of a rapidly evolving world.