How A.I. Could Reshape the Economic Geography of America

Chattanooga, Tenn., a midsize Southern city, is on no one’s list of artificial intelligence hot spots.But as the technology’s use moves beyond a few big city hubs and is more widely adopted across the economy, Chattanooga and other once-struggling cities in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South are poised to be among the unlikely winners, a recent study found.The shared attributes of these metropolitan areas include an educated work force, affordable housing and workers who are mostly in occupations and industries less likely to be replaced or disrupted by A.I., according to the study by two labor economists, Scott Abrahams, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University, and Frank Levy, a professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.These cities are well positioned to use A.I.

to become more productive, helping to draw more people to those areas.The study is part of a growing body of research pointing to the potential for chatbot-style artificial intelligence to fuel a reshaping of the population and labor market map of America.A.I.’s transformative force could change the nation’s economy and politics, much like other technological revolutions.“This is a powerful technology that will sweep through American offices with potentially very significant geographic implications,” said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he studies the regional effects of technology and government policy.

“We need to think about what’s coming down the pike.”At issue is a new and rapidly growing breed of the technology known as generative A.I., which can quickly draft business reports, write software and answer questions, often with human-level skill.Already, predictions abound that generative A.I.

will displace workers in call centers, software developers and business analysts.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verif...