The WDR 2026 and the AI and Digital Development teams hosted Avi Goldfarb, Rotman Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare and Professor of Marketing at the University of Toronto, for a discussion on how firms adopt general purpose technologies (GPTs) and what drives productivity gains from innovations such as the internet and artificial intelligence.
While economic models offer limited insight into when breakthrough ideas emerge, the discussion emphasized how both co‑invention costs and the distinct benefits of each GPT shape adoption patterns. Using the examples of the internet’s communication advantages and AI’s new capabilities, the speakers showed that understanding productivity impacts requires attention not only to firm heterogeneity and co‑invention costs, but also to the unique value each technology delivers.