Understanding the AI Economy

OuterVale

Understanding the AI Economy , brought to you by Google, one of the companies with the largest vested interests in the AI economy.

tomelders

In other words - "We don't like the reporting around how bad the economics of AI are, so we're cherry picking our own data, presenting it out of context, and asking you to look at it through rose tinted spectacles."

cryo32

This is basically reading about heroin adoption from the heroin dealer. I’ll take information from multiple independent analysts please.

neom

The full 100 page report: https://ai.google/static/documents/GoogleATLASv1.pdf

trentor

That's just weird. I don't get how something like this gets published when I need 8 rounds of approvals for a button.

ofjcihen

Look, say what you will about Ed but when you compare his analysis against numbers and data like what we see from Google here you can’t help but see a difference https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-openai-bubble/

sulam

The study uses Gemini data to draw conclusions about AI usage for economically useful work. Hopefully it is obvious that this is a fatally flawed approach due to inherent bias in limiting your data collection to one model which is uneven in its capabilities (as all models are) and therefore biased in what work people use it for. I might as well write a paper about the economic uses of power tools by analyzing how drill presses are used.

tdu01

A very positive spin. I fear that AI will be a tool for the rich and a toy for the richer. It will sadly divide the people Geographically (rich countries affording data centres and nationalised models) and poorer countries missing out. It will divide socio-economically, the rich affording tokens becomes the land/knowledge owners/hackers and the poor becomes the labourers.

rusk

How’s this for a working theory. Economic actors that were established doing the “easy stuff” that got displaced first got a head start on everyone else and started low balling on the harder stuff and that’s why we’re seeing impacts in the parts of the economy that aren’t being directly hit by AI. It could explain why people who know stuff are finding themselves squeezed for cost in every direction even though their specific area defies automation. There is a latency at play here while all the corner cutting of the cost based competitors mount. Not sure what is the outcome when the inevitable correction kicks in but the economic impact will be long lasting as skilled workers leave the industry and we are left with decades of slop to clean up.

olalonde

These AI threads seem to attract the same kind of repetitive, low-effort dismissals that crypto threads used to.

tonyoconnell

"Less than 10% of those interactions fully automate tasks." - that's because they are measuring use of Google's models. People are using Antrophic's models for automation and coding. My wife is from a tribe in the mountains where they live like they live off the land, cooking with fire like they did 1000 years ago. She uses Gemini to learn how to live in the city - book flights and hotels, stuff like that. I use Claude Code every day to automate my tasks. Google has a very different type of user than Antrophic and Open AI.

zer00eyz

> AI use at work is broad but shallow: Workplace adoption spans all industry sectors and also 68% of all occupations that collectively represent 90% of total U.S. employment. Im sorry but what? Plumbers, electricians, framers, welders, auto workers, hotel staff, restaurant staff are these people using AI in their jobs? Does someone at google think that these very much manual labor jobs are only 10 percent of the work force in the US? There is PEW data, that says 30 percent of us labor force is in manual labor / blue collar jobs. The person you call at 3am to fix your drain, isnt using AI.

holografix

Is this Google’s poorer version of Anthropic’s economic index?

cube00

For example, automotive technicians and industrial mechanics use AI to interpret complex test results, debug electrical wiring, and inspect machinery for wear. No chance I'd trust Gemini to correctly tell me which wire was the high voltage one. You're absolutely right! I apologize for providing a factually incorrect explanation. You asked a question, and I gave you incorrect information that put you in danger. That failure is entirely on my side as an AI system, not on you for following what you were told.

ericpauley

Interesting to see that Gemini (which I assume wrote this entire article and site) has the exact same over-stylized italic serif preference as Claude does.

maccard

There is a lot of words here (I haven’t read the full report and I’m assuming it’s heavily AI generated but I will look later). For an article about the AI economy, there is no mention of economy.

tchalla

Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.

mark_l_watson

I share the cynicism here about this article. I think the saddest part of betting our economy on AI is that Google is actually the US-based corporation that is best positioned because so much of their AI efforts are not specifically aimed at software development. At least for now their profit margins are high enough to withstand the high AI costs, but let's wait and see if that lasts.

gwbas1c

In the bolded text, the "n"s are lighter grey. Anyone know why they did this? Once I saw it, it became too distracting.

anygivnthursday

86% of AI not used for work - so Gemini is mainly used by consumers, I guess also mostly non-paying. I am not surprised as they are on many Androids nowdays and Android updates recent whats new showcases new Gemini features (or repeat the same ones from earlier) for more people to try, my wife uses it often instead of Google search and sometimes to edit some photos.