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Can artificial intelligence be so transformative as to solve one of the U.S. economy’s biggest problems: its skyrocketing fiscal deficit? According to three economists at the The Brookings Institution, the answer is yes — AI could prove a positive “critical shock” for the country’s fiscal health. A working paper released last month by the Center on Regulation and Markets at Brookings projects that under the most optimistic scenario, AI could reduce the annual U.S. budget deficit by as much as 1.5% of gross domestic product by 2044, or about $900 billion in nominal terms, lowering annual budget deficits by roughly one fifth at the end of the 20-year span. While the economists acknowledge that the impact of AI on federal spending is still “highly uncertain,” the coauthors believe it could ultimately be more transformative for the economy than past technological leaps, such as the use of personal computers in the 1990s. The current AI shock “feels different. This isn’t your typical technological shock,” Ben Harris told CNBC.