Artificial intelligence and employment VOX, CEPR's Policy Portal

Since the second half of the 1990s, productivity growth has accelerated in the US due to the Information Technology (IT) Revolution. However, the productivity effects of traditional types of IT were exhausted by mid-2000 (e.g. Today, the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics?referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution?on the future economy and society is attracting attention, and many speculative arguments have arisen regarding the possible effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. In particular, the substitution of human labour by AI and robots is being hotly discussed. The Japanese government has begun efforts to develop and diffuse AI and robotics technologies.