AI could unleash US start-up boom: Scott Bessent

Asheville, Sep 2 (AHN) Artificial intelligence is helping small businesses operate with fewer people and could unleash a start-up boom across the United States, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said, while urging technology companies to explain more clearly how its benefits will reach ordinary Americans.

Bessent said the government was seeing indications that AI tools had lowered the number of employees needed to start and operate some companies.

“We are seeing AI result in a massive increase in small business start-ups, because you’re seeing the one, the two, the three-person company that would have taken critical mass, 15 or 20 people,” he told reporters after the G20 finance ministers’ meeting in Asheville.

“So I would expect that we would see a start-up boom, and we are seeing it,” he said.

Bessent described those new ventures as part of the small-business economy rather than a development limited to large technology companies.

“That’s Main Street. That is small business. That is what powers this,” he said.

The Treasury secretary acknowledged public concern over the rapid construction of data centres and other infrastructure required for AI. He said technological change could appear threatening, particularly when it moved quickly.

“I think that we need to sit back, take a deep breath, and all change can be scary,” Bessent said.

He also delivered a sharp rebuke to AI companies, saying developers and data centre operators had failed to communicate effectively with the public.

“The fact is that this can be transformative,” he said. “I think that the AI companies, whether it is the builders of the data centres, whether it is the labs themselves, have done a horrendous job, horrendous job of explaining themselves to the American people.”

“I think we need a big reset on this,” he added.

Bessent said companies would have to persuade Americans that the financial and productivity gains generated by AI would be distributed widely.

“They are going to have to convince the American people that all the benefits will not accrue to a small group,” he said.

The G20 meeting included discussions with companies already integrating AI into their operations. Bessent said organisers deliberately invited businesses using the technology instead of AI developers and academics.

“What we wanted to bring in were real companies, so we had pharma companies, farm equipment companies, industrial companies, and they told us about how they were integrating it into their supply chains,” he said.

Those companies reported that AI was increasing employment, according to Bessent. He did not provide figures or identify the participating businesses during the news conference.

Bessent also predicted that heavy capital spending by AI companies would eventually produce productivity gains and reduce inflationary pressure.

“At a point, as we heard from our private sector partners yesterday, this CapEx will turn into productivity, and that will be extremely disinflationary,” he said.

“I would guess that in the next six months, we will start seeing the benefits of that,” he added.

The G20 chair’s statement described AI as a general-purpose technology capable of having profound effects on the global economy. It said countries embracing its responsible development, adoption and diffusion would probably set the pace of global growth in the coming years.

The statement also recognised potential financial and sector-specific risks. It called for responsible adoption, stronger cyber resilience and regulatory frameworks that protect financial stability while allowing innovation and productivity-enhancing investment.