by Mark Keenan, American Thinker:
Artificial intelligence is being promoted as the technology that will “change everything.” Yet while a handful of firms are profiting enormously, a different question deserves attention:
Is AI accelerating the economy — or merely masking its slowdown?
Across headlines, AI is credited with transforming medicine, finance, logistics, commerce, and productivity. Yet among many working professionals, there is a sense that real wages have struggled to keep pace with rising living costs. At the same time, the loudest optimism often comes from sectors most financially invested in the AI narrative.
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This raises an uncomfortable question: Has AI become a true engine of prosperity — or a financial life-support system?
The Mirage of Growth
Recent data suggests a substantial portion of U.S. GDP growth may be driven not by rising productivity, but by AI-related infrastructure spending — especially data centers.
A study from S&P Global found that in Q2 of 2025, data center construction alone added 0.5% to U.S. GDP. That is a historic figure. But what happens if this spending slows?
Are we seeing real economic expansion — or a short-term stimulus disguised as innovation?
This pattern has precedents. Before the 2008 housing collapse in Ireland — and in the United States the same year — construction boomed, GDP rose, and optimism became mandatory. Economies looked healthy on paper. Fragility was already taking root.
Today, the boom is not in bricks and concrete — but in silicon, servers, and expectation.
The Productivity Paradox
AI has been advertised as a labor-saving miracle. Yet many businesses report a different reality: “work slop” — material produced by AI that looks polished but must be repaired, rewritten, or verified by humans. Time is not saved — it is quietly relocated. Studies suggest the same paradox:
According to media coverage, MIT found that 95% of corporate AI pilot programs showed no measurable ROI.
MIT Sloan research indicated that AI adoption often lowers productivity initially, and improvements (it is claimed) only occur after major organizational restructuring.
Even McKinsey— one of AI’s strongest advocates — warns that “piloting AI is easy, but creating value is hard.”
If AI has not reduced human labor — has it merely concealed it?
If AI is not transforming work — is it simply rebranding it?
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