Artificial Intelligence

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Artificial intelligence is reshaping the global economy, offering major gains for productivity and growth but also raising new risks for inequality and policy design.
Generative AI is already changing how economies function—from public services to labor markets—and marks a major structural shift with wide implications for jobs, productivity, and income distribution.
AI diffusion is creating dependencies on a few frontier models, concentrated compute, and innovation ecosystems beyond the reach of many economies, widening a resilience gap between AI leaders and laggards.

Generative AI constitutes a major structural shift affecting:
- Jobs
- Productivity
- How income is shared
The structural drivers of the resilience gap include uneven diffusion of AI and development outpacing government readiness; closing the gap will require smarter regulation, public investment, and international coordination.

Whether AI supports broad‑based prosperity depends on workers’ ability to adapt.
Demand for digital and AI‑related skills is rising quickly.
Without large investments in education, reskilling, and lifelong learning, young people and middle‑income workers may face the greatest pressure.
Policy choices will determine whether workers and firms are adequately prepared for the AI revolution.

Advanced economies:
- Need to balance innovation with strong safeguards.
Emerging and developing economies:
- Must expand digital infrastructure and skills to avoid widening global divides.
Fiscal policy, social protection, and central‑bank assessments of AI’s impact on labor markets are critical policy levers.
Closing the resilience gap requires:
- Smarter regulation
- Public investment
- International coordination

AI fuels new financial stability risks by enabling more sophisticated cyberattacks; resilience, supervision, and international coordination are essential to safeguard global financial markets.
Supervisors need practical approaches to leverage AI in supervision and equip themselves to navigate an increasingly complex financial ecosystem.

Public services: AI can boost firm capacity and public services but also create new dependencies.
Energy and infrastructure: AI’s power-hungry nature requires policies to expand electricity supplies, incentivize alternative sources, and contain price surges.
Innovation and market structure: Concentration of AI development in a small number of companies and countries can skew technological change toward automation and increase industry concentration, affecting the distribution of gains.

The International Monetary Fund is investigating AI’s broader impact on economies and societies by:
- Gathering global knowledge through surveillance activities
- Convening key actors to share successful policy responses and foster international consensus
- Harmonizing regulations
The Fund is helping members understand and manage AI’s impact through:
- Analysis
- Policy advice
- Capacity development
- Examining macroeconomic, labor‑market, and financial‑stability effects
- Integrating AI considerations into surveillance and technical assistance
- Convening forums where countries share lessons and practical guidance

Europe and the Global AI Race — September 21, 2026 (Remarks by Managing Director Georgieva at the ECOFIN Meeting, Dublin, Ireland)
Global Economic and Financial Implications of Artificial Intelligence: Lessons from a Scenario Planning Exercise — April 3, 2026
Financial Stability Risks Mount as Artificial Intelligence Fuels Cyberattacks — May 7, 2026
New Skills and AI Are Reshaping the Future of Work — January 14, 2026
How Europe Can Capture the AI Growth Dividend — November 20, 2025
AI Needs More Abundant Power Supplies to Keep Driving Economic Growth — May 13, 2025
How Artificial Intelligence Can Boost Productivity in Latin America — March 20, 2025
Panel: The Global Impact of AI: Mind the Gap — April 15, 2026
How Europe Can Capture the AI Growth Dividend: Macro-Policy Lessons for Productivity and Growth — April 14, 2026