The AI Series: A Question of Timing

Capital Group economist Darrell Spence, who has covered the U.S. economy for more than three decades, separates AI hype from the evidence, explaining how much growth the current capital-spending boom is actually buying, where productivity gains are most likely to show up, and who benefits when they do. He also looks to earlier investment cycles for a sense of how long this one will last. The spending is real, but Spence makes the case that enthusiasm and economic resilience are not the same thing — a distinction that matters more as consumer spending softens, inflation persists, and tariffs push up costs.