Bank of England estimates AI has raised UK productivity by only about 0.5% over three years
The central bank's Monetary Policy Report finds that AI investment is supporting demand more than it is lifting output per worker.
Despite heavy spending on artificial intelligence, the technology has so far delivered little productivity gain for UK businesses, according to the Bank of England's latest Monetary Policy Report, The Register reports. The central bank estimates that AI has raised UK productivity by about 0.5 percent over the past three years. That works out to between 0.1 and 0.2 percentage points of extra annual productivity growth since early 2024. "AI investment appears to be contributing somewhat to current demand strength, but so far there is only evidence of a modest AI-driven rise in UK productivity growth," the Bank said. According to the report, productivity growth has improved in sectors with heavy AI use, such as information and communications, but the overall effect on the economy remains small. Central banks watch productivity closely because it shapes long-run growth, wage gains and inflation, all of which feed into interest-rate decisions. The assessment adds to recent investor doubts about whether the large sums going into AI chips and data centers will pay off economically soon. For policymakers, it suggests that expectations of a fast AI-driven productivity boom are not yet supported by the data.