At the heart of his warning was the displacement of jobs by AI. He said the International Monetary Fund\u2019s estimate that 60 per cent of jobs in advanced economies were vulnerable to displacement \u201clikely low-ball the true impacts because they don\u2019t account for how much more advanced AI will become in the next decade\u201d. <\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe writing is on the wall in every industry that processes information for a living. The productivity gains will be real \u2014 but there is no automatic mechanism that translates them into broadly shared prosperity. The most likely outcome is an economy in which corporate profits explode <\/a>as labour costs fall, while workers\u2019 share of output shrinks. Wealth concentrates at an unprecedented rate at the top, while the vast middle loses ground.<\/p>\n \u201cBy mid-century, on this trajectory, we arrive at something that goes beyond inequality and begins to look like economic speciation: an elite class with AI-augmented capabilities enabling lives of luxury, equipped with medical breakthroughs that deliver longer lifespans, living in parallel with a global majority whose economic prospects, healthcare access and political power have been permanently curtailed. This is not a prediction I make lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, George Osborne, the former chancellor<\/a>, has said that countries which do not embrace AI risk \u201cFomo\u201d and could be left weaker and poorer.<\/p>\n George Osborne speaking last year at the SXSW festival<\/p>\n JACK TAYLOR\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n Osborne, who is two months into a job as head of OpenAI\u2019s \u201cfor countries\u201d programme, told leaders gathered for the AI Impact summit in Delhi: \u201cDon\u2019t be left behind.\u201d He said that if they do not implement AI rollouts, their workforce could be \u201cless willing to stay put\u201d, hoping instead to seek AI-enabled riches elsewhere. <\/p>\n \u201cA lot of countries who aren\u2019t the United States of America and who aren\u2019t the People\u2019s Republic of China essentially face two kind of slightly contradictory feelings at the same time,\u201d Osborne said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first is a Fomo: are we missing out on this huge technological revolution? How to be part of it? How do we make sure that our companies feel the benefits of it? How do we make sure our societies feel the benefits of it?\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, he said, these countries wanted to safeguard their national sovereignty while relying on AI systems controlled in the US and China.<\/p>\n Osborne said: \u201cThere\u2019s another kind of sovereignty, which is: don\u2019t be left behind, because then you will be a weaker nation, a poorer nation, a nation whose workforce will be less willing to stay put.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Tony Blair Institute warns UK risks falling behind in biotech<\/a><\/p>\n![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/\/7a9621c5-59df-4c1f-ab18-766843c3589a.jpg\")
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