What will artificial intelligence do to industries and jobs? For a preview, look to the finance industry which has been incorporating data and algorithms for a long time, and which is always a canary in the coal mine for new technology. The experience of finance suggests that AI will transform some industries (sometimes very quickly) and that it will especially benefit larger players. But it may not leave the overall system better off.
The meteoric rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the public conscience has caused many people to question what an AI-dominated future looks like. Will AI transform industries? If so, will it democratize or consolidate them? Will it create better or worse outcomes? Outlines of answers can be found in the world of finance which has been transformed in the last decade by the same forces driving AI: the diffusion of ever more powerful computing and the profusion of data. The experience of finance is both encouraging and sobering for an AI-dominated future. It suggests that AI will transform some (but not all) industries, that it will benefit larger players most, and that just as it makes individual players smarter, it may make the world dumber.
