As companies continue their march toward digitization, they’re increasingly adding artificial-intelligence (AI) techniques to their value-creation toolboxes. In this McKinsey conversation with Bill Ready, chief operating officer at PayPal, he explains how cloud platforms are making AI available to a wider set of users, unlocking a plethora of opportunities. However, access to these technologies and the digital economy is not distributed evenly across the population. Opening up access to all could create a new trajectory for future economic growth. An edited transcript of Ready’s remarks follows.