Mary Daly on historical technology impact
From SF Fed's Daly on the Economic Impact of AI · · Bloomberg Live
“I started at the fed in the mid 90s when we were grappling with how much would computerization, the internet, uh, create opportunities to hold prices back. And so those are the kinds of things that we are doing right now. But I don't think that's the pressing issue today. Today. You know inflation's above target for different reasons. But going forward we definitely have to think about this in the news.”
On , Mary Daly, President at Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, spoke about historical technology impact during SF Fed's Daly on the Economic Impact of AI on Bloomberg Live.
About Mary Daly
Mary Daly, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said during several appearances in April through June 2026 that while there is "tremendous investment" in artificial intelligence by businesses, widespread productivity gains from AI are not yet visible in economic data. She described the next year as "the big test" for whether those gains will materialize, adding that firms are still in the early stages of learning the technology and changing their business processes. Daly drew a comparison to the adoption of electrification, noting that sustained productivity gains historically required business process change rather than simply adding new technology to existing operations. She said she is not seeing evidence of financial stability concerns from rising markets or from data center financing, stating that companies are investing "a lot of their own resources" into those projects. On monetary policy, Daly said policy is currently "in a good place" and that the right decision from the May 2026 Federal Open Market Committee meeting was to hold the rate steady. She said providing more specific forward guidance about future rate moves "could be misguided" because of economic uncertainty, and she emphasized the need to balance the risks of overreacting and underreacting to incoming data. Daly stated that inflation remains her "number one priority," pointing to elevated energy and food prices as key drivers, and she said she does not see confusion among the public about the Fed's commitment to price stability. She also expressed that she looks forward to the "real discussions" that incoming FOMC Chair Kevin Warsh has said he wants to have.