Code for Change

Across Britain, the United States, and most of the developed world, four decades of policy have failed to close the gap between those who get ahead and those who get left behind. Wages have stagnated. Wealth has concentrated. The middle rung of the labour market has thinned. And the traditional toolkit, retraining, redistribution, place-based investment, has produced modest results at best.

Then a new technology arrived. Code for Change makes the case that artificial intelligence is the first general-purpose technology with a serious chance of democratising capability itself, the ability to do expert work that previously required someone else's permission or expense. Drawing on randomised trials, frontline reporting, and conversations with policymakers, educators, entrepreneurs, and ethicists, Isa Mutlib offers a clear-eyed account of what AI can do for inclusive economic progress, what stands in its way, and what each of us can do to make the better outcome the real one.