We are in an era of great technological advances, or so say all the tech bros who are championing not just AI but a whole host of technological innovations – from finance and healthcare to supply chain management and communications.

In spite of recent stumbles, the share prices of tech companies continue to soar, sucking more and more money into the great Silicon Valley bonanza. Ireland benefits enormously as Europe’s, maybe the world’s, most Silicon Valley-adjacent economy by virtue of all the tech companies based here.

The promise of AI, and the reason a few big firms are betting billions on it, is to make the economy more efficient. Robots will do the jobs that used to be done by millions of people.

When you think for a moment about this, you must conclude that we are facing an era of mass deflation, where prices fall across the board. If this happens, how will we repay all the debt we have accumulated?

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This column is about to tell you that possibly the most obvious financial implication of AI will be mass debt default, bankruptcies, bank failures and chaos in the international financial sector. Bear with me, as I outline how this happens.

All technological innovations are deflationary because what drives all technology is efficiency. Efficiency is a fancy word for getting more out of less. At the forefront of every technological........

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