IMF says AI investment keeps global growth around 3%

IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday that strong investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is maintaining global growth at around 3%. The AI investment boom is generating both demand and investment shocks, potentially boosting growth by half to one percentage point in advanced Asian economies and 0.2 to 0.8 percentage point in emerging Asian economies, Georgieva told participants at a weeklong meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Bangkok.

Georgieva described AI as a "slow-moving tsunami" that could reshape jobs, growth, education, and tax revenues as economies transition from labor-intensive to capital-intensive. She estimated that AI could augment, downgrade, or eliminate 40% of jobs over time, with 10% of jobs in the US already requiring AI skills. While routine, repetitive jobs are shrinking, low-paying jobs are increasing in sectors such as construction and data centers.

The World Bank president, Ajay Banga, emphasized the focus on leveraging "small AI" to generate productivity gains for farmers, healthcare systems, educators, and others in emerging markets. World Bank president Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore warned of the potential for AI to create a "new divergence" in growth and job creation between developing and advanced economies, urging governments to address the issue promptly.