What if Adam Smith Debated an AI Economist

A Thought Experiment on Markets, Ethics, and the Invisible Hand

Bibliographic Data

ID21259481
AuthorsAlexandra-Codruța Bîzoi (0000-0003-3913-325X, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration West University of Timișoara Timișoara Romania), Alexandra‐Codruța Bîzoi (West University of Timişoara, corresponding author), Cristian-Gabriel Bîzoi (0000-0002-7202-834X, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration West University of Timișoara Timișoara Romania), Cristian‐Gabriel Bîzoi (West University of Timişoara)
Year2026
Publication date2026-03-17
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBusiness Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2694-6416 • E-ISSN: 2694-6424
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/beer.70101
OpenAlexW7139001483
LanguageEN
References cited26

Can AI‐driven capitalism sustain the moral preconditions of market order? We stage a dialogue between Adam Smith and a steel‐manned “EconAI” to test four Moral‐Market‐Fitness criteria: trustworthiness, fairness, non‐domination, and contestability, across 11 dilemmas. Our heterodox claim is anti‐sufficiency: procedural fixes and CSR‐centric governance do not, by themselves, convert optimization into moral market order. We argue for a two‐step pathway: first, reopening markets to restore contestability and limit arbitrary power, followed by deepening procedural justice through enhanced explainability and redress. The contribution is philosophical and diagnostic: a Moral‐Market‐Fitness Rubric for evaluating AI capitalism. Through a gap analysis of 11 dilemmas, we specify levers managers and regulators can deploy now to transition from Algorithmic Oligarchy toward AI‐Driven Moral Capitalism

Adam smith · Capitalism · Corporate governance · Economic Justice · Free market · Invisible hand · Oligarchy · Rubric · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems

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