Generalized Disruption: Society, Work, and Property Rights in the Age of AI

Disruptive innovations are understood as those that threaten incumbent firms. When it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI), however, its broad applicability means that disruption will not just stop at product markets; the technology has the potential for generalized disruption across multiple domains. This chapter begins by exploring two domains that have received some attention already. First, the sociopolitical sphere, with implications for civil rights and privacy. Second, labor markets, with implications for adjustment policies and workplace regulation. We then identify a new domain that has heretofore been overlooked: the disruption of property rights over contestable inputs. The resources that many AI applications rely on—online content for generative AI or urban space for autonomous vehicles—are becoming valuable and contested inputs, as property rights are often ill established. Conflict over these resources is expected going forward; clearer property rights and usage frameworks will thus have to be established via litigation and regulation. These multiple domains of disruption can interact with one another, generating both opportunities and challenges for academics and policymakers.