Oxford Review of Economic Policy· 2021Q2
Artificial intelligence as a general-purpose technology: an historical perspective
- 137citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2021year
Short summary
Artificial intelligence (AI) may drive a Fourth Industrial Revolution by increasing the productivity of research and development, similar to how steam and electricity spurred previous industrial revolutions.
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Key points
- General-purpose technologies (GPTs) like steam and electricity had large, lagged effects on productivity.
- The First Industrial Revolution's essence was long-term technological progress, not short-run productivity gains.
- AI's potential to increase R&D productivity positions it as a GPT for a Fourth Industrial Revolution.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract This paper looks at the impact on productivity of general-purpose technologies such as steam, electricity, and ICT. It finds they had big effects but only with a lag which was substantial in the first two cases. The experience of the First Industrial Revolution is explored and it is found that this is not a template for a general-purpose technology having a major adverse effect on workers’ living standards. The essence of that industrial revolution was not rapid productivity growth in the short run, but the ‘invention of a new method of invention’ which increased technological progress in the long run. Since artificial intelligence is potentially a general-purpose technology that raises the productivity of research and development, it may be the basis for a Fourth Industrial Revolution.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 2021 · DOI ↗
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Field: Discrete Mathematics and Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics and CombinatoricsMathematics