  Recent progress in artificial intelligence (AI) marks a pivotal moment in
human history. It presents the opportunity for machines to learn, adapt, and
perform tasks that have the potential to assist people, from everyday
activities to their most creative and ambitious projects. It also has the
potential to help businesses and organizations harness knowledge, increase
productivity, innovate, transform, and power shared prosperity. This tremendous
potential raises two fundamental questions: (1) Will AI actually advance
national and global economic transformation to benefit society at large? and
(2) What issues must we get right to fully realize AI's economic value, expand
prosperity and improve lives everywhere? We explore these questions by
considering the recent history of technology and innovation as a guide for the
likely impact of AI and what we must do to realize its economic potential to
benefit society. While we do not presume the future will be entirely like that
past, for reasons we will discuss, we do believe prior experience with
technological change offers many useful lessons. We conclude that while
progress in AI presents a historic opportunity to advance our economic
prosperity and future wellbeing, its economic benefits will not come
automatically and that AI risks exacerbating existing economic challenges
unless we collectively and purposefully act to enable its potential and address
its challenges. We suggest a collective policy agenda - involving developers,
deployers and users of AI, infrastructure providers, policymakers, and those
involved in workforce training - that may help both realize and harness AI's
economic potential and address its risks to our shared prosperity.
