Breakingviews - COMMENTARY: Fast-embraced AI will be slow to lift productivity

A Reuters Breakingviews analysis argues that fast, widely adopted AI may take time to show up in productivity data. A single contract-clause task that once took lawyers hours can now be completed in minutes by specialized large-language models, and such savings repeat daily across workplaces. Yet a tracker citing Harvard Business School support says only 44% of workplaces used AI as of May, and measurable labor-efficiency gains have been elusive. The piece compares today’s AI shift with past technology waves, noting 1980s and 1990s productivity leaps were tied to capital spending, while today’s AI-related costs may be harder to capture in statistics.