Q91　Will the World Become Richer in the AI Era?

The Short Answer

Whether the world truly becomes richer is decided not by AI, but by the future we choose.

Unpacking the Question

Will the world become richer in the AI era?
AI will raise productivity dramatically.
It will generate new technologies
and advance medicine and education, industry and research.
Our daily lives will become more convenient than ever.
But technological progress alone does not guarantee human happiness.
However convenient life becomes, if we cannot hold hope for the future, we will not feel rich.
And the reverse is true: even in hardship, with hope for the future, people can live facing forward.
Is a truly rich society not one where each person can believe, "Tomorrow will be better than today"?
The one who creates that future is not AI.
It is we humans.
In Future Value Theory, we hold that a company's mission is to create future value and make the world richer.
Profit is the force that sustains that challenge.
Technology is a means of realizing the future.
But the purpose—what to aim for— must be decided by human beings.
Precisely because this is the AI era, companies are asked to show people a future they can hope for.
The more people come to share in that future, the richer society becomes.
Richness is not the quantity of things we own.
It is the magnitude of our expectations for the future.

Implications for Management

AI will make society more convenient.
But what it takes to build a rich society is not technology itself—it is showing people a future they can hope for.
Companies bear a responsibility to think not only about profit and efficiency, but about what value they will leave to society.
It is the companies that create expectations for the future that will enrich society in the AI era.

How Would You Answer?

For you, what kind of future would make a truly rich society?
And for the sake of that future, what will you begin today?