Artificial intelligence as a core of the new industrial revolution: prospects and limitations

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to define prospects and limitations of artificial intelligence as a core of in the new industrial revolution. The definition of the concept of AI in the scientific community remains the subject of heated debate. At the same time, in the regulatory and legal plane, a trend is being formed towards unification of the concept of AI. Based on the analysis conducted and literary sources, the following prospects for AI can be identified on theoretical and practical levels. On theoretical level: (1) alienation of tacit knowledge from the individual (employee and entrepreneur); (2) optimization of the planning system; (3) revision of the socialist-calculation debate; (4) decreasing information asymmetry. On practical level: (1) formation of new products and markets; (2) increasing labor and capital productivity; (3) massive creation of new jobs; (4) optimization of business processes; (5) opportunity for rapid growth for small businesses and startups. Limitations: (1) long-term structural unemployment; (2) inflated expectations from AI and, as a consequence, the possible formation of a speculative bubble in the global stock market; (3) energy consumption of AI; (4) outdated pre-AI corporate culture and regulatory environment. Further improvement of AI (including the transition from AI to AGI) and the expansion of its use can make a significant contribution to solving problems related to economic calculation and minimizing information asymmetry, and therefore optimizing transaction costs in the economy. AI, certainly acting as a locally useful tool at the level of individual enterprises and organizations, causes the acceleration of attracting funds to the stock market, which can lead to the formation of a bubble on global level. If this bubble bursts, expectations about the economic efficiency of AI will be revised, and some AI-related companies will experience significant margin reductions (perhaps losses and bankruptcies). But this, in turn, will initiate the next stage of AI development, will accelerate its transition from the current narrow specialization to the creation of full-fledged general artificial intelligence (artificial general intelligence), which has a greater potential to change the economy at all levels. As a result, AI will become established as the core of the new industrial revolution.