Forecasting AI-Era Productivity: The Intellectually Converged Human Framework and a Missing Cognitive Mediator in Production Function Theory (opens in new tab)

Why does massive AI investment fail to generate commensurate productivity gains? We argue the paradox is theoretically generated: prevailing production function frameworks encounter a structural boundary by treating AI as a separable factor of production without modeling the cognitive mediation through which AI generates productive value. This directs investment toward deployment when productivity requires prior development of what we term conve...