AI companies could become toll collectors for the whole economy, warns Leigh

Key points

• Assistant Minister for Productivity and Competition Andrew Leigh has warned that artificial intelligence could narrow wage gaps between workers while widening the income divide between workers and owners of capital.
• Speaking at a JPMorgan AI conference, he said a handful of AI companies could become toll collectors for the rest of the economy.
• He cited a study of more than 5000 customer-support agents, where productivity rose by 15 per cent and about 30 per cent among less-experienced workers.