First, as this new IMI diffuses across many application sectors, the resulting
explosion in technological opportunities and increased productivity of R&D seem likely to
generate economic growth that can eclipse any near-term impact of AI on jobs, organizations,
and productivity. A more subtle implication of this point is that “past is not prologue”: even if
automation over the recent past has resulted in job displacement (e.g., Acemoglu and Restrepo,
2017a), AI is likely to have at least as important an impact through its ability to enhance the
potential for “new tasks” (as in Acemoglu and Restrepo, 2017b).