Disruption will continue to accelerate. El-Erian cited a conversation he had with an M.I.T. professor with deep connections in Silicon Valley who said that even sophisticated people there were expressing surprise about the pace of change.
One example he offered was that it took Hilton 100 years to reach 750,000 rooms and AirBNB only six years to reach 1 million rooms. Execs at AirBNB know nothing about building hotels, training concierge-types and chambermaids, but they do understand technology and how to exploit it.
Artifical intelligence will disrupt many industries, probably some who aren't expecting it. Economic disruption can easily spawn social conflict. That's one reason why El-Erian predicted that within a few years the nation would be discussing a guaranteed income policy for displaced workers.
Despite his criticisms of U.S. and other policymakers, El-Erian said the U.S. was in relatively good shape and graded as a B+, but no more. H e was asked about other economies, but it didn't sound like he'd give anyone better than a B-.