AI’s spread may harm developing countries, but multinational governance can mitigate losses

Increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation has the potential to increase inequality both within and across countries. Anton Korinek of University of Virginia and Joseph E. Stiglitz from Columbia note that these worries are intensified for developing economies and emerging markets because increasing automation threatens the manufacturing-dependent, export-led model of development that has been so successful for them. The authors argue that because AI diminishes the comparative advantage of many developing countries—cheap labor and abundant natural resources—it may reverse the convergence toward higher living standards developing countries have experienced in much of the past century, though the authors caution that there is still great uncertainty about the future impact of AI. While national policies such as progressive taxation and redistribution can ensure broader shared prosperity in some countries, the impact of these policies is limited in developing countries. Korinek and Stiglitz argue that policies at the supra-national level reforming the global system of governance will enable developing countries to benefit more from advances in AI. Such policies could include a global tax regime where worldwide profits of a corporation are apportioned to different countries and a global minimum multinational corporate tax rate.

Πηγή: Hutchins Roundup