AI is advancing rapidly across companies, yet its effects remain largely invisible in productivity and GDP growth statistics. Global spending on generative AI reached $30 billion to $40 billion in 2025, while hyperscalers invested more than $300 billion in data centers, chips, and electrical grids that year. The author identifies two immediate effects: faster software development and cost reductions through automation, before any measurable increase in revenue or productivity. This resembles the J-curve described by Erik Brynjolfsson, Daniel Rock, and Chad Syverson, in which productivity gains appear only after processes, teams, and information systems are reorganized. The author argues that AI could trigger a breakaway point within five to eight years, compared with fifteen years for computers and roughly forty years for electricity.
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