Kai Ryssdal

Here's a not-so-random fact about artificial intelligence in the U.S.

economy.

It comes to us from the Federal Reserve Bank of St.

Louis.

AI in all its components, software, equipment, R&D, and last but not least, all those data centers that are being built, added just shy of one percentage point to gross domestic product in the first three quarters of last year.

Now, one percent does not sound like a whole lot, I know, but in a $31 trillion economy...

That is real money.

So, of course, Americans are thrilled with this new technology that is upon us, right?

Well, not exactly.

Generative AI has, yes, been adopted at a dizzying pace.

But plenty of people are still uneasy about it, whether it's boosting the economy or not.

We asked Marketplace's Megan McCarty Carina to do a vibe check.

Also gets pretty loud and pretty hot.

But first, let's do the numbers.

Dow Industrials up 313 today, two-thirds of 1%, 49,412.

The NASDAQ added 100 points, about four-tenths percent, 23,601.

The S&P 500 gained 34 points, about a half percent, 69,050.

Some of the big AI players out there.

NVIDIA dropped six-tenths percent.

Broadcom, supplier of semiconductors and software, increased one and a half percent.