Is AI more like electricity, or the PC? To optimists, AI could unleash a wave of productivity gains, much like mass electrification did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Last year, Goldman Sachs researchers predicted that AI could add as much as 7% to the world economy by 2033.
Yet not everyone buys into the hype: MIT economist Daron Acemoglu, in an April research paper, argued that AI's boost to the GDP will be much more modest, at just 1.1% over the next decade. Previous technological advancements, like the PC or the internet, had more limited productivity gains compared to previous "industrial revolutions."
