When the artist formerly known as Google renamed its parent company Alphabet, the plan looked simple. Google’s advertising business would generate billions in profit that would be channelled to Alphabet’s “moonshot bets”, such as delivering the internet via hot air balloons and generating renewable power through advanced kites.

But counterintuitively, AI has not encouraged Alphabet’s flights of fancy. Instead, it has forced the company back to earth, presaging how it might affect the broader economy.