As AI accelerates industrial restructuring, can the adaptive capacity of the economy and society keep up?
Kevin Bryan, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, points to electrification as an example: from the commissioning of Edison's first power station to the electrification of roughly half of U.S. manufacturing, about 40 years elapsed—a technological revolution is not the same as a productivity revolution. A 2026 NBER study of more than 500,000 GitHub developers shows that autonomous coding agents increased cumulative code-commit activity by about 240%, but the number of projects rose by only about 80% and actual software releases by only about 30%. The rise of financial AI agents, meanwhile, makes accountability boundaries and risk contagion under multi-agent collaboration a real governance challenge.
ation of roughly half of U.S. manufacturing, about 40 years elapsed—a technological revolution is not the same as a productivity revolution. A 2026 NBER study of more than 500,000 GitHub developers shows that autonomous coding agents increased cumulative code-commit activity by about 240%, but the number of projects rose by only about 80% and actual software releases by only about 30%. The rise of financial AI agents, meanwhile, makes accountability boundaries and risk contagion under multi-agen
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