There's no doubt that generative AI will impact the economy--but how, exactly, remains an open question. Despite fears that these AI tools will upend workers and exacerbate wealth inequality, early evidence suggests the technology could actually help level the playing field for some. Meanwhile, the demand for chips that underpin modern AI including generative tools is expected to grow significantly. And the US is spending billions to reshore the industry. Global competition for these chips is fierce, with both countries and companies now making unprecedented investments in the sector.

With artificial intelligence (AI) gradually gaining ground in every industry around the world, the adoption of AI by smaller towns and cities is now closer than ever. It is estimated that by 2030, artificial intelligence might contribute $13 trillion (16 percent) to the global economy. Additionally, it might increase the world's gross domestic product (GDP) by up to 26%. By the year 2020, at least 70% of businesses will probably have used some kind of artificial intelligence technology, whether it is computer vision, natural language processing, advanced machine learning, robotic process automation, or virtual assistants. However, the growing development in technology is largely concentrated in metropolitan cities.

Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age (AIDA), a special committee set up in September 2020 to analyse the horizontal impact of Artificial Intelligence on society, has concluded with its own-initiative report, adopted on Tuesday (22 March). The AIDA report had a rocky start, as progressive political groups criticised conservative rapporteur Axel Voss for the report's overall narrative. It was seen as too focused on international competition, where the EU was inevitably falling behind. After significant redrafting, the report was adopted with a vast majority in the parliamentary committee while maintaining the original emphasis on the potential benefits of the emerging technology. "The EU now has the unique chance to promote a human-centric and trustworthy approach to AI based on fundamental rights that manages risks while taking full advantage of the benefits AI can bring for the whole of society – including in healthcare, sustainability, the labour market, competitiveness and security," Voss said.

New Zealand is developing an approach to supporting the ethical adoption of AI -- one that is focused on building an AI ecosystem on a foundation of trust, equity and accessibility right from the onset. A crucial part of this approach is to involve key stakeholders in the planning. And that is exactly the reason why the government has designed the system so every New Zealander and every technology expert who matters can contribute. The success of this ITP requires us to form a consensus view on the scope of our ambition and how this can be achieved with actions and initiatives that are sufficiently realistic to bring about meaningful change – both short and longer-term. Wellington published a draft that should jumpstart its pursuit of an ethical AI ecosystem: the Industry Transformation Plan (ITP) which covers its overall digital transformation road map.

Did you miss a session from the Future of Work Summit? This article was contributed by Wilson Pang, CTO at Appen. The new foundation of the artificial intelligence (AI) economy is flexible, remote work. Thanks to advances in technology that enable remote work at an unimaginable scale, organizations developing AI can now collaborate with people from almost anywhere, including previously inaccessible areas. People across the globe can now contribute to building AI in meaningful ways, particularly through data preparation and annotation work.

Dubai, UAE: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Dubai and Stallion AI have joined forces to launch a new initiative that will enable students of all disciplines to become Certified Artificial Intelligence (AI) Citizens. The program, known as 365 Digital AI Citizenship, will provide participants with a custom-made learning plan, along with access to an exclusive global community of experts, to help them explore their future career path in the AI economy. The launch of the program comes as 86% of employers report that artificial intelligence is already mainstream technology in their day-to-day business operations. As AI increasingly pervades across industries and professions, its ability to transform productivity is expected to contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. Explaining the importance of the initiative Samer Obeidat, CEO of Stallion AI, said, "All future jobs will involve AI in some form, so everyone needs some understanding of the field. The biggest barrier to optimising the technology is the lack of knowledge and skills, so introducing young people to AI through this Citizenship program will ensure that they are highly sought after employees of the future, with the ability to both utilise and enhance AI functions in the workplace."

Earlier this month, Brookings Metro published a data-driven snapshot of the growth and geography of the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) economy in the United States. Employing seven basic measures of AI research and commercial activity, the report benchmarked U.S. metropolitan areas on the basis of their core AI assets and capabilities as they stand now. Here, we look at the report's most important takeaways through five charts. The AI industry is growing rapidly, with AI-related projects accounting for a substantially larger share of federal research and development expenditures at U.S. colleges and universities. Similarly, newly founded firms that provide AI solutions of all tech startups expanded to more than 5%, from less than 1% a decade ago.

In American society, the service sector, which generally produces intangible rather than tangible goods, rules the U.S. economy and accounts for about 80 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. Service is in the eye of the beholder, and Americans have spoken loudly concerning their level of satisfaction with "service" in the U.S. economy. For example, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) (comprising a cross-section of U.S. industries), based in the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, tracks quarterly the overall satisfaction level of company performance by U.S. customers (ranking it from a low of 0 to a high of 100). Since recording a survey result of 77.0 in the third quarter of 2018, U.S. customer satisfaction has declined continuously to 73.6 in the first quarter of 2021, a ranking not surveyed by the ACSI since 2005. Interestingly, according to ACSI, "manufactured goods tend to score higher for customer satisfaction than do services.

Automation, robotics and artificial intelligence technologies have been taking over routine tasks for years. The Covid-19 pandemic has rapidly increased that trend, driven by the triple necessities of increased productivity, lower costs and human safety. Suddenly, human contact is both undesirable and more longed for than ever. Delivery companies, plumbers and even some medical providers now boast about their "zero-contact" service, but we relish any chance we get to have an in-person meal or a face-to-face meeting. Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article.

The pandemic has taught us many lessons and opened our minds to new ways of doing things, including understanding the potential of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). AI/ML models and algorithms have supplemented the work of healthcare professionals, medical researchers, public health authorities and local administrations in monitoring and predicting trends. Lockdowns have led to a boom in Internet consumption. According to the Department of Telecommunications, Internet consumption in India rose by 13% after the lockdown was announced. Higher consumption has generated goldmines of user data that online businesses can harness.