During the 1980s and 90s, macroeconomic data could not detect the contribution of the emerging computer revolution. Famously, Robert Solow quipped “You can see the computer age everywhere, but in the productivity statistics.”
Consider two scenarios, first a firm that used to buy a $10,000 HR service from an outside provider now buys that HR service for $10,000 from an AI HR provider. In that case the output still is captured in national accounts and all that disappeared was the wages and workers. In the second version that $10,000 service is now done internally for $10 of tokens. In that scenario GDP has declined by $9,990 despite the same work being done.
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