Avi Goldfarb
Avi Goldfarb is the Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and a Professor of Marketing at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on the economics of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and information technology. Goldfarb’s research explores the economic and societal impact of AI, examining how machine learning, automation, and data-driven technologies are reshaping industries including healthcare, marketing, law, and public policy. Before joining the University of Toronto, he held visiting academic appointments at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Columbia Business School, and Boston University, where he contributed to the development of research in digital markets and the economics of innovation. He is also the co-author of Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence (with Ajay Agrawal and Joshua Gans), a Globe & Mail bestseller that simplifies the economic framework for understanding how AI changes decision-making, productivity, and strategy in the modern economy.
Avi Goldfarb Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
-
Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and Professor of Marketing
-
Visiting Scholar
-
Visiting Scholar
Academic History
-
Ph.D., Economics
-
M.A., Economics
-
B.A., Economics
CURRENT AFFILIATIONS
Chief Data Scientist, Creative Destruction Lab
Research Lead, Acceleration Consortium
Rotman President, Goldfarb Analytics Corporation
Distinguished Fellow, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Faculty Affiliate, Vector Institute
Faculty Affiliate, Schwartz-Reisman Institute for Technology and Society
RESEARCH EXPERTISE
Avi Goldfarb’s research focuses on the economics of artificial intelligence, digital markets, and online consumer behavior.
He specializes in studying how emerging technologies transform marketing, competition, and healthcare, with particular emphasis on the economic and strategic implications of AI.
His interdisciplinary approach draws from marketing, economics, statistics, management, medicine, and political science, offering a holistic understanding of how AI and digital innovation reshape business and society.
Goldfarb’s work explores a wide range of topics, including online advertising and targeting, search engine marketing, ad pricing, crowdfunding platforms, data privacy, branding, and consumer decision-making in the digital age.
He has also contributed to public policy discussions, testifying before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on issues related to competition, digital markets, and privacy in online advertising.
MEDIA PRESENCE & PUBLICATIONS
Goldfarb is co-editor of two influential academic volumes — Economic Analysis of the Digital Economy and The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda — both of which have shaped modern thinking on the intersection of technology, markets, and policy.
His award-winning research has been published in top-tier academic journals such as Management Science, the Journal of Marketing Research, and the American Economic Review.
Goldfarb’s insights have been featured in major global media outlets including The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, The New York Times, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal, where his work continues to inform business leaders, policymakers, and academics on the evolving role of AI in the global economy.