Sonia Randhawa

New Delhi: Although generative AI is a recent development, there is already strong evidence that it has all the characteristics needed for a general-purpose technology, similar to a steam engine, says co-founder and co-director Andrew McAfee. he claimed. “His MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy” and he is a Principal Investigator at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Since the Industrial Revolution, some technologies have been powerful enough to accelerate the overall process of economic development, the authors say in their report, “The Economic Impact of Generative AI.” This “general purpose technology” includes steam engines, internal combustion engines, electrification, computers, etc.

In the report, the authors argued that generative AI is a new general-purpose technology that has the potential to become more widespread than previous technologies.

The opinions expressed in this report are solely those of the authors.

Generative AI is a recently developed type of artificial intelligence that can create new and original content such as text, images, video, and audio. It performs tasks by learning statistical patterns from existing data and using those patterns to generate new output on request.

“General-purpose technology not only drives productivity and economic growth, but also contributes to many other advances. We believe that generative AI will accelerate scientific discovery and help innovators and engineers build better things. “We hope to help creative people find new ways to express themselves and impress their audiences,” the authors wrote in a recently published report.

However, the authors argued that new technologies bring challenges as well as benefits. He cited examples, arguing that internal combustion engines polluted the air, made conflicts more deadly, and caused massive job displacement as workers moved from farms to factories.

“However, the overall long-term effects of technological advances are very positive. In recent decades, working hours have decreased and living standards have improved around the world.”

According to one estimate, nearly 80 percent of jobs in the U.S. economy could be completed at least 10 percent of the time (without sacrificing quality) with the use of generative AI, the authors said. I am.

Traditional general-purpose technologies such as the steam engine and electrification have been changing for decades. However, since generative AI is easy to disseminate, I expect that the effects will be felt more quickly.

“In addition to accelerating growth, generative AI will bring about other changes as well. It will reduce demand for some skills, increase demand for others, and create demand for entirely new skills.” he added.

“Previous general-purpose technologies have transformed a wide range of industry-leading companies and countries, and we believe generative AI will be just as powerful.”