Trusted AI opens up opportunities to tap into vast new value pools

The promise of AI just got a lot more real. According to PwC’s latest research, AI is set to unleash a wave of innovation and productivity growth that could raise global GDP by 15% within a decade.

This kind of boom in global prosperity has not been seen since the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, the last time the world experienced such a profound technological breakthrough. 

However, this time around it is information rather than machines that are driving the change. We are entering the Intelligence Age in which the cost of intelligence – which means using information to gain insight and create value – is falling and may well be on its way to zero, disrupting old business models while creating once-in-a-generation opportunities for businesses.

We are already seeing firsthand what AI can do in the workplace. Its powers have quickly extended well beyond the ‘prompt and reply’ model; AI agents can now autonomously or semi-autonomously take multiple steps to achieve a goal. Imagine how much a company’s workers could achieve with cadres of agents at their command.

Indeed, AI is on its way to touching every aspect of business and society, revolutionising how we work and live and creating exponential growth in opportunities for organisations to deliver results. 

AI is already transforming what organisations can achieve. PwC's AI Jobs Barometer shows that industries most able to use AI have significantly higher labour productivity growth while workers with AI skills receive strong wage premiums, indicating the value these workers bring.

Innovators are partnering across industry lines to pioneer new AI-powered ways to move, make, build, power and care for a global population of more than 8 billion people. For example, as advances in technology open the door to new forms of personalised healthcare, a new domain of care is forming that includes tech companies, pharma, consumer products firms that bring rich consumer data, energy companies to supply power-hungry AI, telecoms companies to create new platforms for connection, and suppliers who help to source medicines as climate change and geopolitics disrupt supply chains. 

As a result, medical services are now supplied by many companies that may never have expected to compete in healthcare. This is just one example of how AI is transforming traditional industries and creating opportunities for those with the vision to seize them.

For business leaders, therefore, the competitors of yesterday are not the competitors of tomorrow. Trillions will change hands as innovators disrupt old business models and create new markets - starting with $7 trillion just this year, PwC research shows.

To usher in this boom in productivity and prosperity, however, one crucial element is required. That element is trust. AI must be used responsibly or a loss of trust could derail the AI revolution. The global growth dividend from AI is not guaranteed and depends on more than technological progress; it also hinges on responsible deployment, clear governance and public and organisational trust. 

Trust isn’t just a feel-good factor. Trust frameworks and privacy-respecting policies can unlock high-quality, diverse datasets which are essential for powerful and accurate AI models. Conversely, without a foundation of trust that makes cooperation possible, nations or regions may build siloed AI ecosystems, slowing down innovation and limiting collective progress. PwC research shows that in a world with less responsible deployment and global cooperation, AI could add as little as 1% to the global economy by 2035.

AI can deliver the greatest benefits only if users trust that AI will deliver high quality and ethically sound results, if workers trust that AI will enhance their value to employers, and if society as a whole trusts that AI is a net positive. 

Ultimately, the future belongs to the bold. This is an exciting time full of opportunities and potential, despite the complexity and challenges that accompany it. The companies that will define the Intelligence Age will be those that reinvent themselves ahead of the curve, taking decisive steps now before the new value pools become obvious to everyone.

For business leaders, it is more true than ever that the best way to predict the future is to write it.