AI Use Set to Grow Fast Next Year but Data Centres May Not Bring Many Jobs, Says Report

AI Growth

Artificial intelligence use is set to speed up around the world over the coming year. A new report shows that 97 per cent of chief economists expect AI use to grow in the next 12 months. This is the highest level of agreement ever seen on any topic in the survey. Also, 69 per cent of these experts expect the technology to bring real productivity gains.

Global Race

The benefits of AI will spread to all industries within three years, though digital sectors will stay ahead. Economists now expect productivity gains to arrive sooner in fields like farming, energy, mining, and construction. Meanwhile, the technology race between the United States and China is shrinking. About 69 per cent of economists believe Chinese large language models will fully catch up to US models in the next 12 months.

Jobs and Power

At the same time, the fast growth of AI infrastructure brings worries. While 78 per cent expect data-centre investments to help global growth, 61 per cent do not think these investments will create many jobs. About 79 per cent of economists think data-centre growth will face strong pushback from local communities. High electricity prices worry 78 per cent of respondents, and 58 per cent worry about higher water prices.

Energy Shift

To power these systems, global investments are shifting toward different power sources. As many as 83 per cent of economists expect world investment in nuclear energy to grow in the next year. This compares to 80 per cent who expect growth in renewables and 70 per cent for fossil fuels.

Context

This report comes from the World Economic Forum's September 2026 Chief Economists' Outlook. Data centres need massive amounts of electricity and water to run and cool powerful computer servers, which often strains local town resources and power grids.