Tech and economic experts rose from a panel at the ongoing Spring Meetings of the IMF-World Bank in Washington DC on Wednesday, articulating reasons why Artificial Intelligence (AI) may promise sweeping productivity gains but is battling a stubborn “last mile” problem.
The problem, mainly the costs of adoption, they noted, is a major brake on real-world adoption.
Speaking on the panel, Neil Thompson of MIT said the biggest hurdle is not building powerful AI models but embedding them into everyday business operations.
“It’s awfully easy to get broadband or something else within a mile of your home and very, very expensive to get that last mile inside,” he said.
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