In a speech Wednesday, BOC External Deputy Governor Michelle Alexopoulos highlights "We are starting to see evidence of small productivity gains from AI" and Governing Council has been incorporating limited AI-led productivity gains into projections and potential output forecasts.
- Overall, "To put it simply, the Bank of Canada cares about AI because of its potential to significantly affect productivity, economic growth, employment and inflation. AI also has the potential to impact the financial system, creating both new efficiencies and new risks. These developments shape our assessment of the economy, so they matter for our monetary policy decisions and the Bank’s work to foster a stable and efficient financial system."
- Recall, Gov Macklem pointed out in the April meeting's press conference that some AI productivity bump is anticipated in the latest Monetary Policy Report forecasts, which also show "we do expect to see a labor productivity growth pick up and so ... we have built in a modest increase from AI in productivity growth going forward, it builds over time. I think on average, it's adding about 0.2 to productivity growth in the projection". As for current monetary policy, Macklem added "is AI having a big effect on our policy decision right now? No, but it is built into our projection. And, you know, it could end up that AI comes faster, has a bigger effect than we've expected. It might take longer. We'll see."
- Link to Alexopoulos's speech here