By John H Howard
Publication Date: 2025-12-17 13:29:00
Artificial intelligence is increasingly being defined in terms of efficiency and growth. But this formulation ignores more difficult questions about power, choice and democratic governance.
The political discussion about artificial intelligence is now dominated by two metrics: productivity increases and innovation results. These formulations are understandable. Governments looking to justify AI investments want measurable returns. Companies want efficiency improvements that they can quantify. Researchers want evidence that their work is having an impact. The economic framework, for all its practical appeal, obscures issues that are important to democratic societies.
The conflation of productivity and innovation in political discourse requires particular attention. Productivity is about efficiency. Innovation is about newness. AI contributes to both, but through different mechanisms and with different impacts on the distribution of benefits and risks in the economy and society.
When using AI there are…