(Bloomberg) -- The International Monetary Fund expects the UK economy to be one of the big winners from the artificial intelligence revolution, potentially transforming its anemic growth prospects and boosting wages.

It predicted in its World Economic Outlook published Tuesday that AI will increase productivity by 0.9% to 1.5% a year, a boost that could help lift Britain’s economy out of a long-running malaise. That is much stronger than the 0.1% to 0.8% annual productivity increase from AI across the global economy.

It said UK the size of its economy could jump by as much as 16% due to AI with most of the gains occurring in the first decade. However, it would lead to worse income inequality as low-paid workers see a 2% rise in wages from AI compared to 14% for high-income staff.

UK growth has been hampered by one of the biggest productivity slowdowns in the developed world in recent decades. The struggle to revive productivity has huge implications for the economy, reducing the amount the government, stunting the growth of businesses and curbing wage increases for workers.

Britain’s economy is heavily reliant on services, making it well-placed to benefit from the rapidly developing technology because of its “robust digital infrastructure, skilled labor force, innovation ecosystem, and regulatory framework,” the IMF said. It focused on the potential benefits for the UK in an analysis in its WEO.

“Conversely, many emerging market and developing economies lag in AI preparedness, with potential gains less than half those estimated for the United Kingdom,” the IMF said. “This disparity stems largely from a smaller proportion of workers in high-exposure and high-complementarity occupations.”

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