We have qualified talent, excellent language skills, security, quality of life and lower wage costs than many economies in Northern Europe. It was an important strategy; it created thousands of jobs and helped to internationalise our economy. But artificial intelligence now forces us to ask whether this model will be sufficient for the next decade.

A recent JLL study on the impact of AI on employment and real estate shows that we are not facing a simple destruction of jobs. Some roles will be automated, many will be profoundly transformed, and others will be created. Sectors such as technology and financial services may continue to grow, but with more productive teams and greater capacity to generate results. On the contrary, certain administrative and support functions are among those where exposure to automation may be greatest.

This conclusion should be of particular interest to Portugal. For too long, part of our competitiveness has been based on a relatively comfortable idea: we have been able to make skilled workers available for lower wages than in London, Paris, Frankfurt or Amsterdam. It has worked, but it can hardly be a permanent strategy. If AI allows ten people to do work that previously required fifteen or twenty, the individual cost of each worker loses importance. What becomes of interest is how much value each professional can produce.

And perhaps here is one of the greatest opportunities for the Portuguese economy. Instead of using AI to protect a model based on lower costs, we can use it to finally attack one of our structural problems: low productivity. Portugal needs companies where technology, merit, productivity and remuneration are much more connected. If a worker equipped with artificial intelligence can produce significantly more, part of that gain should be able to be transformed into better wages, greater business competitiveness, and faster growth.

We have some of the necessary ingredients. Portugal is receiving investments in data centres, submarine cables, renewable energies and digital infrastructure. Sines could become one of the main European hubs linked to artificial intelligence infrastructure. Lisbon and Porto continue to attract technology companies and international talent. Portuguese companies are able to create technology and compete internationally. The question is how much value we will be able to build on this infrastructure.

Because installing servers is not enough.

We need research, engineering, software, intellectual property, startups, technology companies, decision-making centres, and capital capable of transforming knowledge into global business. We also need universities closer to companies and a labour market that is flexible enough to allow talent, productivity and remuneration to evolve together.

This transformation will also have consequences in the real estate sector. If Portugal continues to essentially capture low-cost administrative operations, part of the traditional demand for offices may become vulnerable to automation. If, on the contrary, we manage to attract higher value-added activities, a different demand will arise: better offices, laboratories, technology centres, data centres, housing for qualified professionals and new urban centres.

That's why the discussion about artificial intelligence is much bigger than technology.

It is a discussion about the economic model we want to build.

Portugal can continue to be an excellent place for multinationals to perform certain functions at competitive costs. We must not despise this advantage. But we should aspire to much more.

The next decade will not be won by countries that simply have access to artificial intelligence. Practically everyone will have it.

It will be won by those who can use it to produce more value, create better companies and pay better wages.

Portugal now has to decide if it just wants to work for the AI economy or if it wants to help build it.