PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Carl-Benedikt Frey

Carl-Benedikt Frey is an Oxford professor whose research examines how AI and automation change work. He studied economics, history, and management at Lund University, completed a PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in 2011, and founded Oxford's Future of Work Programme. With Osborne, he co-authored a 2013 automation study, and The Technology Trap won Princeton's Lester Prize in 2019. In September 2023, he announced a reappraisal of generative AI and work; his 2025 book, How Progress Ends, traces a thousand years of technological change. As of October 2026, he is the Dieter Schwarz Associate Professor of AI & Work at the Oxford Internet Institute and directs the Oxford Martin School's Future of Work Programme.

Works
73
Citations
10,774
h-index
15
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2011–2014

    The Future of Work Programme

    After studying economics, history, and management at Lund University, he completes a PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition in 2011 and joins Oxford Martin School, where he founds the Future of Work Programme. In 2012, he becomes an Economics Associate at Nuffield College and Senior Fellow at Oxford's Institute for New Economic Thinking; from 2012 to 2014, he teaches at Lund University's Department of Economic History. In 2013, he co-authors The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerization with Michael A. Osborne.

  2. 2019

    The Technology Trap

    In 2019, The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation is selected for the Financial Times Best Books of the Year list and wins Princeton University's Richard A. Lester Prize.

  3. 2020–2022

    Global Partnership on AI

    Between 2020 and 2022, he serves on the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence, an OECD-hosted initiative to guide responsible development and use of AI.

  4. September 2023

    Reassessing generative AI

    In September 2023, he and Michael A. Osborne present “Generative AI and the Future of Work: A Reappraisal,” scheduled for the Brown Journal of World Affairs in January 2024. The study says generative AI expands automation and can make many jobs easier for workers with lower skills.

  5. 2025

    How Progress Ends

    His 2025 book, How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations, traces a thousand years of technological change.

  6. Since May 2023

    Professor of AI and Work

    He takes up the Dieter Schwarz Associate Professor of AI & Work post at the Oxford Internet Institute in May 2023. As of October 2026, he directs the Oxford Martin School's Future of Work Programme and serves as an Oxford Martin Citi Fellow.

Career

  1. Since 2011University of OxfordFounder and Director, Future of Work Programme, Senior Fellow
  2. 2020–2022Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence
  3. From 2012Nuffield CollegeEconomics Associate
  4. 2012–2014Lund University

Education

  1. 2011Max Planck SocietyPhD
  2. Lund University

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

Most-cited works

  1. The future of employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerisation?2016 · Technological Forecasting and Social Change · 8,658 citationsWith Maike Osborne
  2. The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation2019 · 303 citations
  3. Drivers of disruption? Estimating the Uber effect2018 · European Economic Review · 280 citations
  4. Uber happy? Work and well-being in the ‘Gig Economy’2019 · Economic Policy · 265 citations
  5. Remote collaboration fuses fewer breakthrough ideas2023 · Nature · 190 citations

From OpenAlex, as of 19 October 2026.

  1. The median h-index is 54 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Oxford. The median h-index is 54 at universities and 19 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.
  2. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Oxford. Our estimates of combined and median h-index at AI organizations, using current affiliations and OpenAlex records.
  3. Stanford University trained or employed 26 of the 108 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Oxford. Stanford University trained or employed 26 of the 108 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and employment links for major-prize and best-paper winners.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Oxford. Our estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. OII | Dr Carl-Benedikt Frey oii.ox.ac.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Future of Work | Oxford Martin School oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. OII | Generative AI has potential to disrupt labour markets, but is not likely to cause widespread automation and job displacement, say Oxford AI experts oii.ox.ac.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. Carl Benedikt Frey | INET Oxford inet.ox.ac.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. How Progress Ends | Carl Benedikt Frey carlbenediktfrey.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Carl Benedikt Frey - Project Syndicate project-syndicate.org. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. OII | Associate Professor of AI and Work appointed oii.ox.ac.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.