AI is often touted as the next big productivity booster, with Workday predicting it could add £119 billion a year to the UK economy.

The potential lies in saving significant time for managers and employees by handling repetitive tasks, which could boost engagement.

However, overcoming issues of trust, governance and a lack of AI education are critical to realising this potential.

For the West to see real productivity gains, we need innovations similar to those of the 19th and 20th centuries – railways, power lines, telephones, etc. These were real and profound changes, not just marginal improvements.

Today’s advances in AI, such as content creation, customised pricing, customer support, quant trading, etc., offer marginal improvements that mostly benefit a few, but create the illusion of great advances in productivity.

The same thing happened with the internet. Remember when it was supposed to usher in a new era of freedom, networked society and prosperity?

Technological progress is useless without a complete overhaul of outdated political and economic structures. Otherwise, it leads to stagnation and dictatorship because it becomes just another tool for maintaining the status quo.