Technology

Visualizing the Massive $15.7 Trillion Impact of AI

Published

7 years ago

August 21, 2017

Jeff Desjardins

For the people most immersed in the tech sector, it’s hard to think of a more controversial topic than the ultimate impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on society.

By eventually empowering machines with a level of superintelligence, there are many different possible outcomes ranging from Kurzweil’s technological singularity to the more dire predictions popularized by Elon Musk.

Despite this wide gap in potential outcomes, most technologists do agree on one thing: AI will have a profound impact on the society and the way we do business.

The Economic Impact of AI

Today’s infographic comes from the Extraordinary Future 2017, a new conference in Vancouver, BC that focuses on emerging technologies such as AI, autonomous vehicles, fintech, and blockchain tech.

In the below infographic, we look recent projections from PwC and Accenture regarding AI’s economic impact, as well as the industries and countries that will be the most profoundly affected.

Visualizing the Massive $15.7 Trillion Impact of AI

According to PwC’s most recent report on the topic, the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) will be transformative.

By 2030, AI is expected to provide a $15.7 trillion boost to GDP worldwide – the equivalent of adding 13 new Australias to the global economy.

A Geographic Breakdown

Where will AI’s impact be most pronounced?

According to PwC, China will be the region receiving the most economic benefit ($7.0 trillion) from AI being integrated into various industries:

Region	Economic Impact of AI (2030)	% of Total
China	$7.0 trillion	44.6%
North America	$3.7 trillion	23.6%
Northern Europe	$1.8 trillion	11.5%
Developed Asia	$0.9 trillion	5.7%
Southern Europe	$0.7 trillion	4.5%
Latin America	$0.5 trillion	3.2%
Rest of World	$1.2 trillion	7.6%
Total	$15.7 trillion	100.0%

Further, the global growth from AI can be divided into two major areas, according to PwC: labor productivity improvements ($6.6 trillion) and increased consumer demand ($9.1 trillion).

Industries Most Affected

But how will AI impact industries on an individual level?

For that, we turn to Accenture’s recent report, which breaks down a similar projection of $14 trillion of gross value added (GVA) by 2035, with estimates for AI’s impact on specific industries.

Industry	2035 GVA (Baseline)	2035 GVA (AI steady state)
Manufacturing	$8.4 trillion	$12.2 trillion
Professional Services	$7.5 trillion	$9.3 trillion
Wholesale & Retail	$6.2 trillion	$8.4 trillion
Public Services	$4.0 trillion	$4.9 trillion
Information & Communication	$3.7 trillion	$4.7 trillion
Financial Services	$3.4 trillion	$4.6 trillion
Construction	$2.8 trillion	$3.3 trillion
Transportation & Storage	$2.1 trillion	$2.9 trillion

Manufacturing will see nearly $4 trillion in growth from AI alone – and many other industries will undergo significant changes as well.

To learn more about other tech that will have a big impact on our future, see a Timeline of Future Technology.

Related Topics:artificial intelligence ai

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Technology

Visualizing AI Patents by Country

See which countries have been granted the most AI patents each year, from 2012 to 2022.

Published

6 hours ago

April 24, 2024

Marcus Lu

Visualizing AI Patents by Country

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

This infographic shows the number of AI-related patents granted each year from 2010 to 2022 (latest data available). These figures come from the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), accessed via Stanford University’s 2024 AI Index Report.

From this data, we can see that China first overtook the U.S. in 2013. Since then, the country has seen enormous growth in the number of AI patents granted each year.

Year	China	EU and UK	U.S.	RoW	Global Total
2010	307	137	984	571	1,999
2011	516	129	980	581	2,206
2012	926	112	950	660	2,648
2013	1,035	91	970	627	2,723
2014	1,278	97	1,078	667	3,120
2015	1,721	110	1,135	539	3,505
2016	1,621	128	1,298	714	3,761
2017	2,428	144	1,489	1,075	5,136
2018	4,741	155	1,674	1,574	8,144
2019	9,530	322	3,211	2,720	15,783
2020	13,071	406	5,441	4,455	23,373
2021	21,907	623	8,219	7,519	38,268
2022	35,315	1,173	12,077	13,699	62,264

In 2022, China was granted more patents than every other country combined.

While this suggests that the country is very active in researching the field of artificial intelligence, it doesn’t necessarily mean that China is the farthest in terms of capability.

Key Facts About AI Patents

According to CSET, AI patents relate to mathematical relationships and algorithms, which are considered abstract ideas under patent law. They can also have different meaning, depending on where they are filed.

In the U.S., AI patenting is concentrated amongst large companies including IBM, Microsoft, and Google. On the other hand, AI patenting in China is more distributed across government organizations, universities, and tech firms (e.g. Tencent).

In terms of focus area, China’s patents are typically related to computer vision, a field of AI that enables computers and systems to interpret visual data and inputs. Meanwhile America’s efforts are more evenly distributed across research fields.

Learn More About AI From Visual Capitalist

If you want to see more data visualizations on artificial intelligence, check out this graphic that shows which job departments will be impacted by AI the most.