Abstract: AI is transforming daily life far faster than conventional economic statistics suggest. While productivity and GDP figures show only modest gains, measuring consumer welfare reveals that Americans already derived about $97 billion in annual value from generative AI tools in 2024—more than ten times the industry’s recorded revenues. This talk introduces GDP-B (B for benefits), a complementary metric to GDP that captures the value of free and digital goods such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Drawing on large-scale incentive-compatible choice experiments across countries, the presentation shows how digital technologies and AI generate huge but largely invisible welfare gains that also reduce inequality. By augmenting production-based metrics with welfare metrics, we can gain a deeper understanding of how technological innovation truly enhances people’s lives.
Bio: Avinash (Avi) Collis is an Assistant Professor at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. He holds a Ph.D. in Management Science from MIT Sloan School of Management. His research interests include the economics of digitization, with a focus on measuring the welfare gains from digital goods. His research has been featured in major media outlets and policy reports, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Economist, CNN, BBC, Financial Times, Bloomberg, and NPR, as well as reports by the US White House, Federal Reserve, Senate, and UK Treasury. He has been a member of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC), which advises the Department of Commerce, BEA, BLS, and U.S. Census.
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