I'm a PhD student in economics at Columbia University.
My research interests include growth, welfare and technology. At the moment I’m particularly interested in the influence and management of AI and automation.
I've worked at the Commonwealth Treasury of Australia and the Global Priorities Institute (University of Oxford).
You can reach me at tom.w.houlden[at]gmail.com
Research
When Does Automating AI Research Produce Explosive Growth? Feedback Loops in Innovation Networks (Jan, 2026)
[working paper](with Tom Davidson, Basil Halperin, and Anton Korinek)
In progress
Making and Influencing Irreversible Policy Decisions under Preference Heterogeneity
[slides](with Maximilian Negele)
Other Work
How quick and big would a software intelligence explosion be?
[article], [simulation tool] (with Tom Davidson)