Introducing the OpenAI Economic Research Exchange
OpenAI has launched the Economic Research Exchange to support external research on how artificial intelligence impacts workers, firms, and the broader economy. The platform enables selected researchers to conduct project-based collaborations using OpenAI tools and datasets under privacy safeguards. Applications for the program closed on July 5, 2026, with selected participants notified by July 31, 2026.
The Core Development
Update August 5, 2026 : See the current Research Cohort here.
AI is reshaping how people work, how businesses operate, and how ideas are created and shared. Understanding those changes will require more than anecdotes. It will require rigorous empirical research, grounded in real-world evidence and pursued by a broad community of researchers.
Today, OpenAI is launching the OpenAI Economic Research Exchange, a new platform to support high-impact external research on the economic effects of AI. Through the Exchange, selected researchers will conduct research through structured, project-based collaborations with OpenAI Economic Research, with the goal of producing credible, independent evidence on how AI is affecting workers, firms, institutions, and the broader economy.
Strategic Perspective & Ecosystem Impact
We are seeking projects that address important questions regarding the economic impacts of AI. Proposals should explain how carefully governed, privacy-protected use of OpenAI tools can help answer these questions. The goal is to enable rigorous and credible research that would extend beyond traditional datasets alone, by utilizing OpenAI Tools and datasets. And this while maintaining clear safeguards for user privacy and responsible data use.
Selected researchers will undertake carefully scoped projects with defined milestones, data governance, and review processes. We welcome proposals from researchers with strong empirical skills and relevant expertise in applied causal inference, measurement, labor economics, productivity, firms, education, entrepreneurship, public finance, regional economics, development, inequality, or related fields.
The Exchange builds on OpenAI’s broader efforts to improve measurement of AI’s economic effects, including OpenAI Signals. By supporting a portfolio of external research collaborations, we hope to expand the evidence base available to researchers, policymakers, businesses, and the public as they navigate a period of rapid technological change.
Why it matters
This initiative helps build credible, independent empirical evidence on how artificial intelligence affects the economy, aiding researchers, policymakers, and businesses during rapid technological shifts.