Azeem Azhar

They create an exponential gap because those technologies move quickly.

We adopt them quickly, and our institutions, norms, and other systems, for many good reasons, move slowly.

These technologies create new behaviors.

They can expand markets.

And you can see that in the way people, all of us, use these tools in ways that were unimaginable two years ago, perhaps even just a year ago.

So this is why a historical lens matters.

And my framework for the exponential age helps make sense of this moment of chat GPT turning three.

The speed and the scale might feel disorienting, but there are those common features in this underlying dynamic.

Today, I want to speak about how AI is creating a kind of split reality, a split reality around productivity.

It seems to be creating, increasing and improving productivity at the individual level, but how much is it impacting firms and the wider economy yet?

Now, do stay to the end because there is a surprising bit of data that throws more light, perhaps more confusion on all of this.

So let's get started.

Why does this question matter anyway?

Well, if you've watched the stock market this week, you will know exactly why.

The mood around the AI boom turned sour over the NASDAQ and the S&P 500.

There have been several days of red.

key stocks that have enjoyed incredible gains in the last couple of years and the last few months to an absolute pounding.

Amongst them, the hyperscalers, the cloud companies like Oracle and CoreWeave and Nebius, who are

in operation to serve up these AI models for companies like OpenAI and others, really, really in a sea of red.

And even the hardware companies like Vertiv, which makes cooling for data centers, having a really, really tough and torrid week.