PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Aaron Chatterji

Also known as Ronnie

Aaron Chatterji is OpenAI's chief economist, where he leads research on AI's economic and societal effects. He earned an economics BA at Cornell and a PhD at Berkeley, then joined Duke's Fuqua faculty in 2006. His entrepreneurship research earned a Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship in 2009, and he served as a senior economist on President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers from 2010 to 2011. He received the Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship in 2017 and became Commerce chief economist in 2021; he coordinated White House CHIPS implementation from 2022 to 2023. His OpenAI work includes research on how people use ChatGPT and generative AI adoption across organizations.

Now at
OpenAI
Works
9
Citations
234
h-index
3
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2006–2009

    Duke faculty and entrepreneurship research

    He earns a Cornell economics BA and a Berkeley PhD, and joins Duke's Fuqua faculty in 2006. In 2009, he receives the Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship for entrepreneurship research.

  2. 2010–2011

    Senior economist at the CEA

    From 2010 to 2011, he serves as a senior economist in President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

  3. 2017–2021

    A medal and Commerce role

    In 2017, he receives the Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship. In 2021, he becomes chief economist of the U.S. Department of Commerce, advising the secretary on domestic manufacturing and international trade.

  4. 2022–2023

    White House CHIPS coordinator

    In 2022, he becomes White House CHIPS coordinator and acting deputy director of the National Economic Council. He oversees implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act and leaves the White House in 2023.

  5. 2024

    Joining OpenAI

    In 2024, OpenAI appoints him its first chief economist to lead research on AI's economic and societal impacts.

  6. 2025

    How People Use ChatGPT

    He coauthors the 2025 NBER working paper How People Use ChatGPT. Its analysis finds that non-work messages grow faster than work-related messages.

  7. 2026

    Studying organizational AI use

    In 2026, he coauthors How Organizations Use AI: Evidence from ChatGPT, which links ChatGPT Enterprise account records to worker roles, task classifications, and public-company financial data through March 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Chief economist at OpenAI

    As of October 2026, he is OpenAI's chief economist and leads a research team on AI's economic and societal impacts.

A language model matched the links in this timeline to people, organizations and papers (provisional, model-judged).

Career

  1. Since 2024OpenAIChief economist
  2. 2022–2023White HouseCHIPS coordinator
  3. From 2021U.S. Department of CommerceChief economist
  4. 2010–2011Executive Office of the PresidentSenior economist
  5. 2006–2009Duke University

Education

  1. Cornell UniversityBA
  2. University of California, BerkeleyPhD

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Most-cited works

  1. How People Use ChatGPT2025 · 221 citations
  2. Can AI Do Strategy? A Dialogue and Debate2026 · Strategy Science · 11 citations
  3. 1 Clusters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation2013 · 4 citations
  4. How Organizations Use AI: Evidence from ChatGPT2026 · 0 citations
  5. Political Entrepreneurs2026 · 0 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 18 October 2026.

  1. The median h-index is 55 at universities and 20 at frontier AI labsIncludes Aaron Chatterji. The median h-index is 55 at universities and 20 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.
  2. 11 of 71 people shaping AI with a former OpenAI role now work at AnthropicIncludes OpenAI. Our estimates of where OpenAI recruits came from and where people with former OpenAI roles work now.
  3. Google alumni founded or led 77 other organizations, the most among the labs we compareIncludes OpenAI. We trace 177 organizations founded or led by AI lab alumni, and 186 career moves between the labs.
  4. 44% of AI career moves go from one university to anotherIncludes OpenAI. We estimate how 11,906 AI career moves link universities, companies, labs and government research centers, with net flows and the most common paths.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Aaron Chatterji yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Aaron Chatterji - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Aaron Chatterji – Mark Burgess & Lisa Benson-Burgess Distinguished Professor at Duke University sites.duke.edu. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Awards – Aaron Chatterji sites.duke.edu. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship – Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation | Kauffman.org kauffman.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. El economista jefe de OpenAI pide calma ante los banqueros centrales: “Que tu tarea esté expuesta a la IA no significa que vayas a perder el trabajo” | Economía | EL PAÍS elpais.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Fuqua Insights Podcast: How Do 700 Million People Use ChatGPT? fuqua.duke.edu. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. How People Use ChatGPT | NBER NBER: National Bureau of Economic Research nber.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  8. [2608.12236] How Organizations Use AI: Evidence from ChatGPT arxiv.org. Checked 18 October 2026.