AI: not just a buzzword anymore
Mark Zandi of Moody’s Analytics says AI is no longer some futuristic side quest — it’s already doing real work for the economy. His headline takeaway: AI is accounting for at least 25% of economic growth, which is a fancy way of saying the spending spree around chips, data centers, and software is now showing up in the macro numbers.
The demand side is getting a lift
Zandi’s read is that AI is helping prop up demand, not just Wall Street’s mood. That means more spending flowing into the companies building the AI stack, with Nvidia the obvious poster child. If you own semiconductor, cloud, or infrastructure names, this is the kind of macro backdrop that keeps the party going a little longer.
The catch: inflation gets a tiny side-eye
There’s a less cheerful wrinkle. Zandi says AI is also adding modestly to inflation, likely because the infrastructure buildout is expensive and the input costs aren’t exactly thrift-store chic. But the productivity magic trick everyone keeps waiting for — where AI makes workers dramatically more efficient — still hasn’t clearly shown up.
Big picture
So for now, AI looks more like a growth engine than a productivity revolution. That’s good news for the companies selling the picks and shovels, but it also means the economy could stay a little hotter, a little pricier, and a lot more dependent on the AI trade than most people expected.