Will A.I. Become the New McKinsey?

“The only way that technology can boost the standard of living is if there are economic policies in place to distribute the benefits of technology appropriately. We haven’t had those policies for the past forty years, and, unless we get them, there is no reason to think that forthcoming advances in A.I. will raise the median income, even if we’re able to devise ways for it to augment individual workers. A.I. will certainly reduce labor costs and increase profits for corporations, but that is entirely different from improving our standard of living.”

This article has been making the rounds and I've seen it linked by several people and they are all correct, it's really good. The bit about the Luddites especially was helpful, but also thinking about how we want to live and what we want when it comes to some sort of equality when it comes to the economics of technology. We haven't gotten this right yet, so I'm not optimistic that AI will change things drastically, but everyone should read and think about what Chiang is pointing out.