Summary

OpenAI launched the OpenAI Economic Research Exchange, a program to fund and coordinate structured, project-based collaborations between external researchers and OpenAI Economic Research. The Exchange supports rigorous empirical studies on how AI affects workers, firms, institutions, and broader economic outcomes by enabling carefully governed, privacy-protected access to OpenAI tools and datasets.

Key Points

• Purpose: Produce credible, independent evidence on AI’s economic impacts through external collaborations.
• Eligible research: Applied causal inference, measurement, labor economics, productivity, firms, education, entrepreneurship, public finance, regional economics, development, inequality, and related fields.
• Data & governance: Projects require defined milestones, data governance plans, privacy protections, and review processes for responsible use of OpenAI tools and datasets.
• Evaluation criteria: Methodological rigor, feasibility, fit with Exchange priorities, clear milestones, and potential to deliver credible external evidence.
• Timeline: Applications open now and close July 5, 2026; applicants will be notified by July 31, 2026.
• Next steps: See the Request for Proposals or contact econresearch@openai.com for application details and submission links.

Practical notes for engineers

• Design proposals with explicit causal identification strategies and reproducible measurement plans.
• Include detailed data governance, anonymization, and privacy-preserving protocols when proposing use of OpenAI tools or datasets.
• Scope projects into clear milestones and deliverables to match the Exchange’s review and oversight model.