From Wealth To Welfare: Systemic Complementarities in the Age of AI
Invited Front Matter Essay - Forthcoming in PLOS Complex Systems
Abstract
Over the past century, general-purpose technologies (GPTs), such as electricity, the combustion engine, and the Internet, have played a central role in driving global welfare. They helped extend life expectancy and civil and labor rights and reduce infant mortality and poverty. However, these transformations did not happen based on the GPT's technical capabilities alone. We unlocked their potential by introducing necessary system-level complements into our social and economic systems. Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is the rising GPT on the horizon, promising to reshape how we live and work. However, like its predecessors, AI's welfare-generating power is not promised without intention. If we want AI to enhance welfare rather than merely generate wealth, we must invest in the appropriate system-level complements to catalyze a shift toward our collective goals. This article is dedicated to identifying these complements and suggesting where complex systems science offers unique insights for their development. In the remainder of this article, we define GPTs as disruptive innovations that improve over time, spur advancements across multiple sectors, and fundamentally reshape industries, markets, and organizational practices. We further define system-level complements as the social institutions, cultural norms, capital investments, and human and scientific resources required to realize the welfare benefits of a GPT.