The Economic Potential of Generative AI: The Next Productivity Frontier ↗

Editorial Notes

The most rigorous and widely-cited analysis of AI’s business value, quantifying the economic potential across 63 use cases and every major industry. McKinsey estimates $2.6-4.4 trillion in annual value from generative AI — but the real value for product leaders is the breakdown by function: customer operations, marketing, software engineering, and R&D are the highest-impact areas. Use this framework to prioritize where AI will deliver the most value in your organization, and to build the business case for AI investment that your CFO and board will take seriously. The report also identifies which tasks within each function are most amenable to AI automation, helping you scope AI features at the right level of granularity. Compare these macro-level projections with the concrete use case guides from Anthropic to bridge the gap between “AI could save billions” and “here’s what we should build first.”