In her new book Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be, Diane Coyle, an economist at Cambridge University, argues that the digital economy requires new ways of thinking about progress. "Whatever we mean by the economy growing, by things getting better, the gains will have to be more evenly shared than in the recent past," she writes."An economy of tech millionaires or billionaires and gig workers, with middle-income jobs undercut by automation, will not be politically sustainable."

Improving living standards and increasing prosperity for more people will require greater use of digital technologies to boost productivity in various sectors, including health care and construction, says Coyle. But people can 't be expected to embrace the changes if they 're not seeing the benefits—if they're just seeing good jobs being destroyed.

In a recent interview, Coyle said she fears that tech's inequality problem could be a roadblock to deploying AI."We're talking about disruption,"she says."These are transformative technologies that change the ways we spend our time every day, that change business models that succeed."To make such"tremendous changes," she adds, you need social buy-in.

Instead, says Coyle, resentment is simmering among many as the benefits are perceived to go to elites in a handful of prosperous cities.

According to the Brookings Institution, a short list of eight American cities that included San Francisco,San Jose,Boston, and Scattle had roughly 38% of all tech jobs by 2019.New Al technologies are particularly concentrated: Brookings's Mark Muro and Sifan Liu estimate that just 15 cities account for two-thirds of the Al assets and capabilities in the United States.

The dominance of a few cities in the invention and commercialization of Al means that geographical disparities in wealth will continue to soar. Not only will this foster political and social unrest, but it could, as Coyle suggests, hold back the sorts of Al technologies needed for regional economies to grow.

Part of the solution could lie in somehow loosening the stranglehold that Big Tech has on defining the Al agenda. That will likely take increased federal funding for research independent of the tech giants.

A more immediate response is to broaden our digital imaginations to conceive of AI technologies that don 't simply replace jobs but expand opportunities in the sectors that different parts of the country care most about, like health care, education, and manufacturing.

Questions:
question_stem: Coyle argues in her new book that economic growth should
choices: tag: A
text: give rise to innovations.

tag: B
text: diversify career choices.

tag: C
text: benefit people equally.

tag: D
text: be promoted forcefully.
answer_key: C

question_stem: According to Paragraph 2, digital technologies should be used to
choices: tag: A
text: bring about instant prosperity.

tag: B
text: reduce people 's workload.

tag: C
text: raise overall work efficiency.

tag: D
text: enhance cross-sector cooperation.
answer_key: C

question_stem: What does Coyle fear about transformative technologies?
choices: tag: A
text: They may affect work-life balance.

tag: B
text: They may be impractical to deploy.

tag: C
text: They may incur huge expenditure.

tag: D
text: They may be unwelcome to the public.
answer_key: D

question_stem: Several American cities are mentioned to show
choices: tag: A
text: the uneven distribution of Al technologies in the US.

tag: B
text: the disappointing prospect of tech jobs in the US.

tag: C
text: the fast progress of US regional economies.

tag: D
text: the increasing significance of US AI assets.
answer_key: A

question_stem: With regard to Coyle's concern, the author suggests
choices: tag: A
text: raising funds to start new Al projects.

tag: B
text: encouraging collaboration in Al research.

tag: C
text: guarding against the side effects of AI.

tag: D
text: redefining the role of Al technologies.
answer_key: D