The Impact of Economic Downturns on Automation and AI Adoption: A Deep Dive into the Tech World

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21d ago 2:52

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Good morning from OWITH.ai: the podcast that gives you only what's important to hear in AI and tech world. Today, we delve into the impacts of past economic downturns on automation, with a focus on how businesses turn to technology to cut costs. Research suggests that previous recessions have actually accelerated automation and digital technology adoption, leading to jobless recoveries as businesses adopt new technologies such as automation and computer technologies. Despite concerns about the current global recession triggered by tariffs, there is reason to believe that a tariff-induced recession could benefit AI adoption in the U.S. as businesses seek to increase efficiency.Shifting gears, we explore a report titled "AI 2027" that predicts the impact of superhuman AI between 2025 and 2027. While the report is praised for its depth and concreteness, biases towards American perspectives and challenges in predicting immediate revolutions due to barriers are noted. Despite these setbacks, AI continues to advance and shape society and the economy.Moving on, we discuss how a tariff-induced downturn may impact the venture capital industry. Historically, funding to VC firms has decreased significantly during economic downturns, with limited partners facing challenges such as lack of expected distributions. The recent implementation of tariffs could further impact the industry, causing companies to put IPO plans on hold and investors to consider alternative asset classes. The future of the VC sector remains uncertain amidst potential challenges like sustained bear markets or recessions.In other news, the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI released its annual AI Index report showing an increase in global AI usage and investment. The report also highlights global sentiments towards AI, amidst tariff turmoil impacting data centers running AI services. Other tech news includes updates on Apple's plans to send more iPhones from India to offset China tariffs, Microsoft firing protestors, Broadcom announcing share buybacks, and IBM debuting a new mainframe for handling daily AI inferences.Shifting focus to President Trump's tariffs on foreign companies, we explore how European scooter and carmaker Micro is considering pulling products off the U.S. market due to significant tariffs. Executives express skepticism about moving manufacturing to the U.S., while China vows to fight against additional tariffs with a threat of a 104% tariff. Various viewpoints on the impact of Trump's tariffs on the tech industry and economy are discussed.Wrapping up, we touch upon recent AI progress like Meta's Llama 4 launch, limitations of reasoning AI models, ARC-AGI 2 benchmark, and widening gaps in AI approval rates between experts and the public. Google's dominance in AI performance versus cost is highlighted, along with upcoming AI models like GPT-5, O3, and O4-mini from OpenAI. The tech industry continues to evolve amidst global challenges and advancements in AI technology.

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