Will Generative AI Bring Change: Technological Disruption and Redistribution in the United States?

The purpose of this article is to discuss, from the perspective of Original Institutional Economics (OIE), the potential implications of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) for income redistribution in the United States. Specifically, we examine whether the proliferation of Gen-AI might shift the preferences of high-income groups towards nonmarket insurance and greater income redistribution due to their increased risk of future income loss. Considering the opinion that Gen-AI could be our final invention due to its potential for self-learning and incredible productivity, and recognizing Gen-AI’s disruptive potential for workers performing non-cognitive tasks, we argue that AI-based automation will require new institutional arrangements. These institutional arrangement changes would promote the redistribution of income generated through economic processes with minimal human participation. Such institutional arrangements are largely reflective of the OIE ideas of an economy of abundance and the institutionalization of good work, with the job as a socially constructed institution at its core.