on the June 30, 2026
What does economics have to say about artificial intelligence? Quite a lot, according to Simone Vannuccini, who holds the Junior Professor Chair in Economics of AI and Innovation at AI Cluster 3IA Côte d'Azur, hosted at GREDEG (Research Group in Law, Economics and Management) and supported by EUR-ELMI, SKEMA Business School and the ANR.
At his Chair, AI is studied as a technology, a market, an industry, and a commodity, all through the lens of economic theory. The guiding question is not "what can this tool do?" but rather: who enters the market and why, who creates value, who holds power, and what trade-offs are being solved? Because in AI, trade-offs abound. Between privacy protection and model improvement. Between investing in ever-larger models, affordable to build only by a handful of dominant players, and developing smaller, open, specialized alternatives. Between systems that lower the cost of accessing information and democratise opportunities and those, often the same systems, that generate dependency, sycophancy, and an environmentally costly flood of low-quality content. Surfacing these tensions, Simone argues, is precisely what allows users and policymakers to develop an informed view of the field.
Since joining AI Cluster 3IA Côte d'Azur, his team has launched several research projects covering the future of robotics and embodied AI, the strategic opening of models, the AI bubble, the impact of mergers and acquisitions on innovation in software markets, lobbying dynamics in response to government scrutiny of AI, and firms' innovation reactions to growing geopolitical uncertainty.
The Chair has also strengthened its connections within the local ecosystem and beyond: together with Lucile Sassatelli (EFELIA Côte d'Azur) and Ekaterina Prytkova (Chair), the team scaled up the VOILA! Seminar series, now a recognised forum for tracking frontier developments and challenges in AI.
Simone joined the scientific committee of the SophI.A Summit and became a board member of Université Côte d'Azur's Académie RISE (Networks, Information and Digital Society), where research on the digital society fosters interdisciplinary dialogue between computer and social sciences.
The Chair research program takes what Simone describes as a "bird's eye view." Rather than asking what a particular firm is doing today or whether a specific version of the technology solves a narrow problem, the Chair investigates general patterns:
⇒ What incentives do firms have to innovate in AI?
⇒ Is the industry evolving in ways that echo similar industries from the past?
⇒ Is the current business model of the sector economically viable in the medium and long run?
⇒ How should policymakers govern a hard-to-contest oligopoly such as today's AI models market?
⇒ And beyond the economic aspects: are the antibodies of democracy strong enough to resist the malicious use of technology, particularly when it comes to generating disinformation at scale and speed?
The goal, ultimately, is to suggest a way of looking at AI as a genuine breakthrough, but not as a magical object. That framing, Simone notes, serves the interests of the few companies that have invested heavily in the technology and expect returns. It does not necessarily serve everyone else.
On a personal note, Simone points to one thing as truly memorable from these years: building a team that is kind, inclusive, enthusiastic, and supportive.
We built a unique identity of the Chair, that I hope can persist even after this experience is completed.
