Meanwhile, real wages plummeted in some occupations, and many laid-off workers struggled for years to find jobs. The social consequences were enormous. People flocked to crowded cities without clean water and adequate sanitation. Disease was rampant. Factory employment was hazardous. Workers were agitated.
Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT burst onto the scene in late 2022, economists and commentators have been discussing generative AI’s possible effects on productivity. But from a cultural and political perspective, it is useful to ask a normative question: How much productivity growth should society desire?
The economic disruption that accompanies rapid productivity growth can be wrenching. The British Industrial Revolution, for example, led to stagnant or declining average wages in at least the last two decades of the 18th century, with some economists arguing that it took several more decades for industrialisation to raise typical workers’ living standards.
