Can AI Refute Economic Theory? Evidence from Beyond the Knowledge Cutoff

Title:Can AI Refute Economic Theory? Evidence from Beyond the Knowledge Cutoff

Abstract:Can artificial intelligence (AI) refute economic theory? I document experiments in which I asked several AI models (Gemini, Refine, Claude, and ChatGPT) to check the correctness of four published papers in economic theory, each containing an error that I helped identify or correct. ChatGPT Pro performed best, occasionally constructing counterexamples and corrected proofs, while other models fared worse. However, no model located a true error without substantial human guidance, and data contamination complicates interpretation. I argue that a competent human paired with a frontier model can outperform current peer review, but AI cannot yet refute economic theory on its own.

General Economics (econ.GN); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Theoretical Economics (econ.TH)

arXiv:2606.05383 [econ.GN]

(or arXiv:2606.05383v1 [econ.GN] for this version)

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.05383 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

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