Panetta: ‘AI can boost productivity in Italia by more than one percentage point a year’
However, the scale of the gains remains ‘highly uncertain’, according to Panetta, who spoke at the annual research conference organised by the National Bank of Ukraine and the Narodowy Bank Polski
Key points
Generative artificial intelligence has reached half of American households in around three years: it took the internet more than ten years to do so, and mobile phones around seven. This figure is contained in a note accompanying the speech given by the Governor of the Bank of Italia, Fabio Panetta, in Kyiv at the annual research conference organised by the National Bank of Ukraine and the Narodowy Bank Polski.
According to Panetta, a central bank’s credibility also depends on its ability to understand technological change and adapt to it, as well as on price stability and independence.
Opportunities with AI
In the short term, he explained, AI-related investment provides ‘a powerful boost to demand’, particularly in the most advanced economies, and the demand for computing power, energy and skilled labour may drive up relative prices and inflation ‘until supply catches up with demand’.
In the long term, the dominant factor will be productivity: a study by the Bank of Italy estimates that, for Italia, widespread adoption could add more than one percentage point a year to labour productivity growth. The extent of the gains, however, remains ‘highly uncertain’.
Investment in the sector and differences between the US and the EU
At an international level, investment in AI has become a driver of growth in the United States: according to US Treasury data cited in the text, net foreign purchases of US shares reached $742 billion in 2025 and over $260 billion in the first five months of 2026.
