I min reflektion över den globala ekonomiska utvecklingen har jag, utifrån Financial Times-artikeln “America Is Now One Big Bet on AI”, skrivit en bloggpost om hur USA:s ekonomi just nu formas av tron på artificiell intelligens. Enligt artikeln befinner sig USA i ett nytt ekonomiskt skede där förtroendet för AI väger tyngre än alla traditionella risker – från tullar och skulder till arbetskraftsbrist och inflation. AI står nu bakom omkring 40 procent av USA:s BNP-tillväxt och 80 procent av uppgången på den amerikanska börsen under 2025. Den amerikanska tillväxtmodellen har i praktiken blivit en AI-modell.
According to the Financial Times article “America Is Now One Big Bet on AI”, a striking paradox is shaping the American economy. Despite high tariffs, collapsing immigration, rising debt and persistent inflation, markets remain confident and even euphoric. The reason is artificial intelligence.
AI is now seen as powerful enough to offset nearly every economic threat. The FT notes that AI-related investment accounts for around 40% of US GDP growth in 2025, while AI companies have driven 80% of all gains in US stocks. In other words, America’s growth story has become an AI story.
This optimism has turned into a self-reinforcing cycle. Capital flows into AI, boosting productivity and valuations, which in turn sustain consumption and confidence. Even as the US faces a labour shortage, with net immigration falling from over three million in 2023 to around 400,000 this year, investors simply shrug. The assumption is that AI will make human labour less essential.
The same belief now underpins fiscal expectations. With debt near World War II levels, traditional economists might expect rising bond yields. Instead, yields have fallen. Markets appear convinced that AI-driven productivity will stabilise the debt burden and extend the economic boom.
Meanwhile, foreign investors are pouring record sums into American equities. Europeans and Canadians may be boycotting US goods, but they are still buying US tech stocks in bulk, particularly those at the heart of the AI revolution. America’s innovation narrative continues to attract global capital and admiration.
The underlying message is clear: AI is no longer a sector, it is the economy.
For Europe and others, this raises a strategic question: will we follow this model of innovation-led growth or continue to analyse it from the sidelines?
If AI truly delivers on its promise, the productivity gap between the US and the rest of the world will widen not by chance but by conviction.
