The forecasts that have been given since the emergence of Artificial Intelligence have gone in two directions: some said that a huge number of jobs would be destroyed and, on the other hand, that it would serve as an essential tool for any type of work, that it would help productivity and create new positions. According to a report by BBVA Research, coordinated by Rafael Doménech, the battle of the gurus is being won by the latter: the productivity of companies that apply Artificial Intelligence solutions is already 4% higher when compared to those who are part of the same sector but have not yet jumped on the technological wave. In addition, the document defends a zero impact (0%) on the volume of workforce of companies in the European Union (EU) that implement Artificial Intelligence in their processes. Also, those companies that report high use of AI have a greater chance of hiring new employees (4.5% more) than those that show lower or moderate use, whose marginal probability of hiring is 1%. Coupled with this greater productivity and possibility of hiring, the study shows a substantial improvement in salaries (3.3%) in EU firms that opt for AI, compared to equivalent companies in the same sector that have not adopted it in their processes. This shows that the greater productivity that employees achieve thanks to it has its reward when it comes to being remunerated: according to data from the 2023 Active Population Survey that the BBVA Foundation has cross-referenced with the 2022 Salary Structure Survey, the average hourly earnings are around 20 euros for occupations with a high digital index (for example, programmers), compared to an average earnings close to 14 euros for occupations with a high digitalized index but not purely technological, such as radiologists. However, this data focuses almost exclusively on large corporations, which have sufficient financial muscle to implement updated Artificial Intelligence solutions. In fact, the report itself admits that this good data "is highly concentrated in medium and large companies." small businesses Artificial Intelligence does not generate value by itself from the first moment it is used. It requires complementary investments in software, databases and even specific training for employees. All of this is plausible for large companies, however, such investments are practically prohibitive for companies with less than 10 employees, which are marginalized from the productivity benefits. To this we must add the digital heritage. The report includes a European study from 2024 (Brey and van der Marel) that explains that the human capital capable of using the new technologies that a company had 10 years ago explains 33% of its current level of AI adoption. This element makes it even more difficult for SMEs to introduce themselves to the uses of Artificial Intelligence applied to their commercial activity. For these reasons, there is an asymmetry in the evolution of AI adoption. Thus, digitally mature companies will lead the progress of the future, and on the other side of the scale are the laggards, who run the risk of being displaced from this technological revolution and from their own markets, since they will not be able to compete with those companies that invest on a large scale. But it is possible to include firms with fewer than 10 employees in the technological wave. In fact, AI can become a democratizer of entrepreneurship, reducing barriers to entry. Furthermore, applied in the initial stages, AI supports growth without the need for excessive spending.
