Here we argue that recent advances in machine learning and neural networks, through their
ability to improve both the performance of end use technologies and the nature of the innovation
process, are likely to have a particularly large impact on innovation and growth. Thus the
incentives and obstacles that may shape the development and diffusion of these technologies are
an important topic for economic research, and building an understanding of the conditions under
which different potential innovators are able to gain access to these tools and to use them in a
pro-competitive way is a central concern for policy.