New Units of Knowledge

We each have a magic genie that will do whatever we ask of it. So do we still need anything from other people? By the same logic, if everyone else has a magic genie that does whatever they want, why would anyone need something we make? Another way of saying that is: if the magic genie makes creation abundant, what will become scarce and valuable? Of course the magic genie is AI. The question of the hour is: if AI serves as a magical personal assistant, or a general partner, for any chore we choose, what happens to our old economic relationships? The magic genie of AI may not be a “normal technology” (in the sense that Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor describe), but because it is real, it will have limits and costs. It will never be costless. Some chores will cost more than others; some will be easy for one AI and near impossible for another. Professionals don’t just do better work than amateurs; they are often 10 or 100 times faster. Magic genies will show the same spread. One might…

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