AI Users Are Not All Alike: The Characteristics of French Firms Buying and Developing AI

Flavio Calvino and Luca Fontanelli

No 11466, CESifo Working Paper Series from CESifo

Abstract: In this work we characterise French firms using artificial intelligence (AI) and explore the link between AI use and productivity. We distinguish AI users that source AI from external providers (AI buyers) from those developing their own AI systems (AI developers). AI buyers tend to be larger than other firms, but this relation is explained by ICT-related variables. Conversely, AI developers are larger and younger beyond ICT. Other digital technologies, digital skills and infrastructure play a key role for AI use, with AI developers leveraging more specialised ICT human capital than AI buyers. Overall, AI users tend to be more productive, however this is related to the self-selection of more productive and digital-intensive firms into AI use. This is not the case for AI developers, for which the positive link between AI use and productivity remains evident beyond selection.

Keywords: technology diffusion; artificial intelligence; digitalisation; productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D20 J24 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ain, nep-cmp, nep-eff, nep-ict, nep-lma, nep-sbm and nep-tid
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11466

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