Introduction to the Paper

The paper shows that artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as a key technology for future economic growth and labeled as a general-purpose technology, as well as an invention of a method for inventing. AI is perceived to generate technological opportunities and through these, innovations, and productivity growth. The paper proposes the leapfrogging hypothesis, suggesting that latecomer firms can use these opportunities to catch up. A regression analysis was conducted combining firm-level data with patent data in this paper. Research has shown that SMEs experience productivity growth from AI when operating at the productivity frontier, indicating the opposite of the leapfrogging hypothesis. However, there is evidence for the positive impact of AI on firm innovation, which is higher for latecomer firms that are larger in size.

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