Phil Trammell is a senior researcher at Epoch AI and, per his Epoch biography, a research scholar at Stanford University's Digital Economy Lab, working with Erik Brynjolfsson and Chad Jones on questions of economic growth and AI (The Nvidia-sized hole in US GDP statistics (Epoch AI, August 2026)).
Work
With Isabel Juniewicz, Daniel Carey and Anson Ho he co-wrote Epoch AI's "The Nvidia-sized hole in US GDP statistics" (August 24, 2026). The report argues that US national accounts miss most of the value-add of fabless chipmakers such as Nvidia, whose chips are designed in the US but manufactured and sold abroad, and estimates that annualized US GDP growth has been underestimated by about 0.3 percentage points over the prior year, potentially almost two percentage points per year by 2028 if Nvidia's operating-income growth continues (The Nvidia-sized hole in US GDP statistics (Epoch AI, August 2026)).
With Dwarkesh Patel he wrote "Capital in the 22nd Century" (winter 2025), which argues that once AI substitutes for labor at scale the balance between labor and capital breaks and Piketty's prediction of unbounded inequality comes true; Ben Thompson responded skeptically in "AI and the Human Condition" (AI and the Human Condition — Ben Thompson (Stratechery, January 2026)).
Relationships
- related: Epoch AI — employer
- related: Erik Brynjolfsson — Stanford Digital Economy Lab collaborator
- related: The Nvidia-sized hole in US GDP statistics (Epoch AI, August 2026) — co-author
- related: AI and the Human Condition — Ben Thompson (Stratechery, January 2026) — responds to his essay with Patel
- related: AI and Productivity, AI Labor Disruption