AI technologies and employment: micro evidence from the supply side

Abstract

In this work we investigate the possible job-creation impact of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, focusing on the supply side, where the development of these technologies can be conceived as product innovations in upstream sectors. The empirical analysis is based on a worldwide longitudinal sample (obtained by merging the EPO PATSTAT and BvD-ORBIS databases) of more than 3,500 front-runner companies that patented AI-related inventions over the period 2000–2016. Based on system GMM estimates of dynamic panel models, our results show a positive and significant impact of AI patent families on employment, supporting the labour-friendly nature of AI product innovation.