Will AI Spark the Next Global Economic Boom?

4 min read.

Author

Midas AI
July 25, 2025

Cutting edge forecasts now suggest that AI may do more than automate work it could revive global economic momentum. Goldman Sachs projects a seven percent annual boost to world GDP over the next decade. That means nearly seven trillion dollars in added value by 2035. And leading IMF modeling broadly supports a similar scale of impact. That could outpace most growth trends since the Second World War.

Even more provocative: some economists argue these estimates are conservative. If AI scales exponentially, automating vast inefficiencies across industries, growth could resemble the Industrial Revolution, but on steroids. Economic output could rise by an order of magnitude if conditions align.

Why These Projections Matter

Goldman Sachs outlines scenarios where productivity lifts by 1.5 percentage points annually. Services, manufacturing, logistics, research, all powered by AI tools trained on massive data sets. According to the IMF, countries that are more exposed, prepared, and data rich could double the benefits, widening the gap between advanced economies and emerging markets.

This matters because it reframes AI from niche automation to macroeconomic infrastructure, capital, innovation, labour, and governance combining to reshape how nations grow.

Productivity Is Real

Major firms deploying AI report real results. R&D cycles speed up. Workflow friction disappears. Wages rise in AI exposed industries even as automation replaces roles. In many sectors, new jobs are emerging faster than old roles fade.

Economic research shows that AI augments idea generation. Productivity curves can bend upward again. If AI increases the returns to capital, as some models suggest, output could shift from linear growth curves to exponential regimes.

The Risks and Skepticism

Not everyone shares the optimism. Leading economists warn that systemic barriers remain such as regulatory uncertainty, labor intensive sectors like healthcare, and infrastructure bottlenecks may limit growth. Economists like Tyler Cowen argue that 0.5 to one percent annual growth is more realistic over the next decade.

Even AI proponents caution that without workforce reskilling and inclusive economic policies, the gains could concentrate in elite sectors, aggravating inequality instead of broad prosperity.

What This Means for Builders and Leaders

If you build AI products, infrastructure, or platforms, you are sitting at the core of the next growth wave. Demand for intelligent middleware, compute infrastructure, governance tooling, and generative models is surging.

Startups should evaluate their annual addressable market against growth models based on AI adoption curves and cross sector productivity gains. Investors should weigh opportunities in compute, energy, enterprise models, and policy services.

Leaders should ask ‘how will AI reshape our sector over ten years? Where can we seed tap productivity gains, reclaim cost structure, or enter new markets built on intelligence?’

Your Playbook Now

Begin by mapping exposure. Which workflows, clients, or industries are ripe for AI automation or augmentation?

Layer in forecasting assumptions from Goldman Sachs and IMF about AI driven GDP uplift. Use those baseline numbers to guide product roadmaps, hiring, or capex decisions.

Public sector pilots are near. National strategies will begin investing in AI readiness. Aligning now with AI policy or infrastructure agendas may give first movers a lasting advantage.

The Bottom Line

AI is not just a new tool. It may be the next lever of global growth. If projected gains play out, this is a once in a generation economic shift.

Will it deliver a boom? If infrastructure scales, policy aligns, and inclusion follows, it might. But timing and scale remain uncertain.

Builders who act now will determine what part they play in this unfolding chapter.

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