What happens when you give an economics final to ChatGPT?
That’s one of the questions that Kevin Leyton-Brown poses on a special episode of Approximately Correct, filmed live at Upper Bound 2026.
Leyton-Brown is one of Amii’s Canada CIFAR AI Chairs, a professor at the University of British Columbia, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. And just last month, he was awarded the ACM - AAAI Allen Newell Award for fundamental contributions to artificial intelligence and machine learning.
His work focuses on the underexplored intersection of machine learning and microeconomics — two fields that might seem wildly different, but have a lot in common.
“Once you learn even a little bit about economics as an AI researcher, you realize that like economics and AI are sort of two twins separated at birth with completely different upbringings, but exactly the same genetic code,” he says.
Loading...
He notes that both fields involve modelling decision-making, utility, and the impact of uncertainty.
The difference between the two, he says, is that economics has traditionally dealt with how large groups make decisions, while AI has focused on building single agents. But with the rise of multi-agent AI and agentic AI, those lines are blurring. And taking lessons from economics will help build effective, socially beneficial AI.
Leyton-Brown describes how that insight has helped guide his career and research into multi-agent systems, market design, and, most recently, interrogating the reasoning abilities of Large Language Models.
Tune in for the full episode to hear more of his thoughts on economics, machine learning, and how AI is a crucial part of Canada’s economic future.
Approximately Correct: An AI Podcast from Amii is hosted by Alona Fyshe and Scott Lilwall. It is produced by Lynda Vang, with video production by Chris Onciul. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Not Your Average AI Conference
Learn from Leading Minds in AI at Upper Bound
Be one of the thousands of AI professionals, researchers, business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and students in Edmonton this spring. Explore new ideas, challenge the status quo, and help shape a positive AI future.