Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, said during a recent earnings conference call that the company’s investments in AI will increase productivity and increase wages.
Fink said the company has increased its assets by $2.5 trillion over the past 18 months while keeping the same headcount, which he attributes to productivity gains from technological advances, including AI .
“We’re going to bring down inflation in America. That’s the way to do it, through technology, which will increase productivity,” he said.
“What is this also means increased salaries…the entire organization does more with fewer people as a percentage of the entire organization. That’s really our ambition,” he added.
THE 10.5 trillion dollars the asset manager is also positioning itself as a key player in fueling the AI revolution by becoming the provider of capital for new data centers and power generation facilities required by AI-driven businesses.
At a conference last year, Fink said he spends a lot of time thinking about how AI will reshape the business.
“We spend a lot of time with different technologists who know a lot more about this than I do. They think things like this will increase productivity by 30 percent,” he said.
AI is already helping workers in white-collar jobs become more productive, according to studies by economists. But that doesn’t necessarily guarantee wage gains: If productivity increases, business owners could pocket those extra gains for themselves.
While AI optimists hope it will create an economic boon, others fear it will create fewer jobs and lower wages in some professions.
20% of Americans work in jobs likely to be highly exposed to the impacts of AI, according to a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisors.
Some of them will benefit positively from AI through increased productivity and new job opportunities, while “some will suffer the consequences, usually through job cuts,” the council writes.
businessinsider
