Artificial intelligence and modern planned economies: a discussion on methods and institutions

Abstract

Interest in computerised central economic planning (CCEP) has seen a resurgence, as there is strong demand for an alternative vision to modern free (or not so free) market liberal capitalism. Given the close links of CCEP with what we would now broadly call artificial intelligence (AI)—e.g. optimisation, game theory, function approximation, machine learning, automated reasoning—it is reasonable to draw direct analogues and perform an analysis that would help identify what commodities and institutions we should see for a CCEP programme to become successful. Following this analysis, we conclude that a CCEP economy would need to have a very different outlook from current market practices, with a focus on producing basic “interlinking” commodities (e.g. tools, processed materials, instruction videos) that consumers can use as a form of collective R &D. On an institutional level, CCEP should strive for the release of basic commodities that empower consumers by having as many alternative uses as possible, but also making sure that a baseline of basic necessities is widely available.

Untitled

“…Unlike Samothrakis (2024), institutional support for the AI economy is an insignificant factor in the AI economy. Confirming Cramarenco et al (2023), personnel and technological support for the dissemination of AI is the key factor of the AI economy.…”

“…A potential drawback of the AI economy is the risk of an increase in the environmental costs of economic growth (Hong and Xiao, 2024). Also, the published works indicated the potential factors for the development of the AI economy, which include the following:  Institutional support for the AI economy (Samothrakis, 2024);  Personnel and technological support for dissemination of AI (Cramarenco et al, 2023);  Telecommunication infrastructure in support of implementation and application of AI technologies (Schmitt, 2023). The performed literature overview revealed that there is a large number of published works on the topic of the AI economy, which is a sign of a high level of elaboration of the problem posed and a strong fundamental basis for this research.…”