AI is the economy, says Mutambara

Any financial institution that fails to serve or actively use AI-driven companies is "not doing modern banking," robotics scientist and former Zimbabwe Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara has declared, insisting that "AI is the economy, and the economy is AI."

Speaking at the Institute of Bankers of Zimbabwe (IOBZ) conference in Cape Town on Friday, Mutambara outlined the staggering scale of artificial intelligence's economic impact. He said AI is projected to contribute US$11 trillion to global GDP in 2025 - 10% of the world's US$110 trillion economy.

"Generative AI alone is contributing US$4 trillion - bigger than the GDP of the UK or France, and larger than Africa's entire US$3,4 trillion economy," Mutambara stressed. "We are smaller than one type of AI."

He emphasised that productivity gains are at the heart of AI's transformative impact. "AI is driving productivity per capita to staggering levels. It's a multiplier, an escalator," he said.

For the banking sector, Mutambara pointed to risk management, fraud detection, customer service, and credit scoring as immediate areas being reshaped by AI. "No function in your sector will remain untouched by AI," he warned.

On the issue of employment, Mutambara dismissed the popular notion that jobs are lost to people who use AI rather than to the technology itself. "It's like saying, ‘You won't lose your job to a tractor, but to a farmer who uses a tractor.' When the tractor was invented, farming jobs changed forever," he argued.

He broke down AI's labour market impact into three categories: job destruction, job modification, and new job creation. The challenge, he said, is ensuring that "new jobs plus modified jobs must be much, much greater than the destroyed jobs." This, he argued, requires a coordinated strategy at national, regional, and continental levels.

Mutambara urged a rethink of employability in the AI era. "Don't tell me, ‘I have been at CBZ for 20 years, so you should keep me.' No, maybe you should go home because you are no longer employable," he said.

Linking individual progress to continental success, Mutambara said, "You will never be respected as a Zimbabwean until Zimbabwe is successful as a country. More importantly, you will never be respected as an African until Africa is a superstar continent."

The conference, themed "Navigating the Bank of the Future, Today," ends on today.