When AI Levels the Playing Field: Skill Homogenization, Asset Concentration, and Two Regimes of Inequality

New research reveals that generative AI creates a paradox where it equalizes individual task performance but may increase aggregate inequality by concentrating economic value in complementary assets. The study presents a formal model showing two inequality regimes dependent on AI's technology structure and labor market institutions.

• →Generative AI compresses skill differences within tasks while shifting economic value toward concentrated complementary assets.
• →The technology creates an apparent paradox where individual performance equalization may widen aggregate inequality.
• →Two distinct inequality regimes emerge based on AI's technology structure (proprietary vs commodity) and labor market institutions.
• →Current occupation-level data cannot adequately test the model's task-level predictions due to data limitations.
• →The research focuses on identifying mechanisms rather than making definitive predictions about inequality direction.