AI Benefits Concentrated Among Wealthy Americans and Major Cities, Widening Income and Regional Gaps Warnings are mounting that the economic benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption are concentrating among wealthy Americans and major metropolitan areas, potentially widening regional, asset, and income disparities. According to separate reports released by Anthropic, the Brookings Institution, and Oxford Economics, workers and businesses in economically advantaged regions of the United States are the most active users of AI. AI adoption is concentrated around the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Washington, and Seattle, while per-capita AI usage was lowest in Mississippi, West Virginia, and North Dakota. Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that "superstar cities" that led in the digital economy are also gaining an edge in AI adoption, which could entrench regional disparities. He warned that companies and regions with higher AI adoption rates could also experience faster job losses if workers are replaced by AI. The Stock Market Shows Wealth Concentration The wealth created by the AI boom in the stock market has flowed to high-income American households. According to Goldman Sachs, gains in AI-related stocks accounted for the overwhelming majority of the S&P 500's rise this year. The question is who owns those shares. The top 20% of U.S. households by income hold approximately 90% of total stock market assets, meaning the benefits of rising stock prices have been concentrated among them. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, described this phenomenon as the "wealth effect" — the psychological confidence that comes from growing investment assets translates into consumption. According to Moody's data, spending growth among the top 20% of income earners over the past three years has been roughly three times faster than the remaining 80%. "The entire U.S. economy right now is being propped up by