Epidemic effects in the diffusion of emerging digital technologies: evidence from artificial intelligence adoption
We find that AI adoption is related to three epidemic effect mechanisms: 1) Indirect co-location in industrial and regional hot-spots associated to production of AI knowledge; 2) Direct exposure to sources transmitting deep AI knowledge; 3) Relational embeddedness in the AI knowledge network. The pattern of adoption identified is highly clustered and features a rather closed system of AI adopters which is likely to hinder its broader diffusion. This has implications for policy which should facilitate diffusion beyond localized clusters of expertise. Our findings also point to the need to employ a systemic perspective to investigate the relation between AI adoption and firm performance to identify whether appropriation of the benefits of AI depends on network position and social capital.
