Bank of England pours cold water on AI productivity boom

Despite the billions being thrown at artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered little in the way of productivity gains for UK businesses, according to the Bank of England.

In its latest Monetary Policy Report, the central bank found that AI has increased UK productivity by an estimated 0.5 percent over the past three years. That works out to just 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points of additional annual productivity growth since early 2024, hardly the economic revolution Silicon Valley has been promising.

"AI investment appears to be contributing somewhat to current demand strength, but so far there is only evidence of a modest AI-driven rise in UK productivity growth," the Bank said.

Even industries supposedly best placed to benefit from the technology have little to boast about. Productivity growth has improved in AI-heavy sectors such as information and communications, but has yet to exceed pre-pandemic averages.

That's not to say AI isn't doing anything for the British economy. …