Finn / Press
end
People think AI is going to make rich people richer — those who can fi­nance data cen­tres and fa­cil­i­tate the pro­duc­tion of tokens. That part is ob­vi­ous, and it is going to be true.
This en­cour­ages some to think "See — rich get richer." But that fram­ing misses some­thing: many people who stay in the lower quar­tiles of income do so partly be­cause their de­fault is skep­ti­cism toward new tech­nol­ogy and in­no­va­tion.
It is hard to argue in­equal­ity is purely unfair when the same tools were avail­able on both sides — when some people became wealthy by adopt­ing a gen­er­a­tional in­no­va­tion, and others passed on it and then pointed at the gap.
So­ci­ety's re­ac­tion to AI high­lights a pat­tern: people who con­sis­tently sit out new tools tend to fall behind, and that shows up as in­equal­ity.
Tech­nol­ogy comes around
It makes some people much more pro­duc­tive
Some people decide not to use it
Those who do stand out
Those who don't move slower in their ca­reers
The gap gets called "rich get richer"
But the tools to catch up were often there
Some choose not to em­brace them
The gap widens
People with cap­i­tal will make a lot of money from AI
People who em­brace it will also make a lot of money
In­equal­ity widens — partly be­cause of who uses what, when
start

What AI reveals about adoption and income inequality

Finn Clancy ·