ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicts that AI-driven payment systems could propel real GDP growth to over 7% in the next five years. Speaking at the Federal Reserve’s Payment Innovation Conference, Wood emphasized the transformative potential of blockchain and AI in enhancing productivity and economic expansion. She attributed the scalability and interoperability of AI payments to open-source development and suggested that initial regulatory resistance to blockchain has spurred the U.S. to reconsider its regulatory stance.