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What Can News Shocks Tell Us About the Effects of AI?

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Abstract

ver since ChatGPT's release in December 2023, the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) and its promises or dangers for the future of humanity have captured the attention of both the public and policymakers. For instance, AI-based tools are now being introduced in business processes, such as Microsoft incorporating Copilot into Word or customer service increasingly moved to AI chatbots. This immediately raises the question of what the economic impact of AI will be. Will it be on the scale of the steam engine powering the Industrial Revolution? Or will it be more along the lines of the computer, about which economist Robert Solow famously quipped, "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics"?1 Economists are studying various aspects of the current and future integration of AI into the economy and the likely effects on GDP, employment, inequality and other economic variables. In this article, we study a different aspect of the AI revolution: news about the arrival of AI. In a nutshell, AI has already had significant effects on economic outcomes even before it is already fully in place.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Gortz & Christopher Gunn & Thomas A. Lubik, 2025. "What Can News Shocks Tell Us About the Effects of AI?," Richmond Fed Economic Brief, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, vol. 25(16), April.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedreb:99873
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