{"id":12241,"date":"2025-03-26T07:38:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T07:38:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/?p=12241"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:05:03","slug":"notes-on-the-economics-of-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/notes-on-the-economics-of-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes on the economics of AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I have been reading and thinking about the economics of AI. Here some articles that I have read or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

links and notes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some people are beginning to notice that if AI succeeds in making people redundant, that no-one will have the money to buy their stuff. Here’s a white paper<\/a>, “The AI Layoff Trap”, by Brett Hemenway Falk<\/a>, Gerry Tsoukalas<\/a>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. A skeptical look at AI investment<\/a> a podcast at Goldman Sachs Exchange which they categorise as a discussion\/comment stream. I have not yet listened to it. It’s dated July 24, so an early adopter of the cynic line. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2025\/mar\/22\/reid-hoffman-superagency-start-using-ai-deeply-it-is-a-huge-intelligence-amplifier<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. https:\/\/www.lse.ac.uk\/News\/Latest-news-from-LSE\/2024\/l-December-2024\/LinkedIn-co-founder-Reid-Hoffman-discusses-AIs-transformative-potential-at-LSE<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. https:\/\/techhq.com\/2025\/02\/deepseeks-open-source-revolution-a-game-changer-for-ai-development\/<\/a> on supplyside economics of AI<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. The UK AI Opportunities plan<\/a> on gov.uk<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. The AI Bubble Is About To Burst, But The Next Bubble Is Already Growing<\/a> by Will Lockett on Medium, a detailed economic critique of the AI industry. The article is well highlighted on issues such as developer productivity and ROI, both of which it would seem are negative. The author suggests that the money is moving into the dead end street of Quantum computing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. But it doesn’t work, The math and logic behind chatgpt, this paper is all you need<\/a> by Joshua Anang on medium<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Why treat the CEO as a superman?<\/a> by me on this wiki<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Whose jobs does AI want?<\/a> by me, on LinkedIn<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. About the Fragment-on-machines<\/a> by me on this wiki<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    And specifically on Energy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. The role of power in unlocking the European AI revolution<\/a> from McKinsey<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. How data centers and the energy sector can sate AI\u2019s hunger for power<\/a>, also from McKInsey<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Boom or Bubble<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. https:\/\/medium.com\/@wlockett\/ai-just-had-its-big-short-moment-714e143dabfa<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. https:\/\/graceblakeley.substack.com\/p\/the-ai-circular-economy<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=g4enOW-PVRA<\/a> The UK\u2019s Misguided Embrace of AI Hype w\/ James Meadway, by Paris Marx, this is 45 minutes long.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. And Cory Doctorow: What Kind of Bubble is AI? <\/a> , he looks at the aftermath of the dotcom boom, which left us with the internet, and looks at what is likely to remain after the crash of the AI boom. “Tech bubbles come in two varieties: The ones that leave something behind, and the ones that leave nothing <\/em>behind. Sometimes, it can be hard to guess what kind of bubble you\u2019re living through until it pops and you find out the hard way.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        I was pointed at these by Karen Hao in her interview on Novara Media<\/a>. She mentions water as another critical resource. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The General Intellect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

        In December, I came across some further articles on the value of AI and rents to be paid for training material, several of these are written by Enrique Dans<\/strong>, here on bluesky<\/a> or on Medium<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. The race for AI sovereignty infrastructure identity and independence<\/a> by Dans, he concludes, “AI sovereignty is neither a technological whim nor an exercise in national pride: it is a reminder that if you don\u2019t control the models that speak for you, you don\u2019t control the future you will have to live in.” Much of his emphasis is on language and culture, just as mine is on accuracy within a regulatory context.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        2. AI is not theft the UK just got it right<\/a>, by Dans on Medium, importantly Dans states that, “Let\u2019s be clear: training is not copying. Copyright <\/strong>protects two specific acts \u2014 reproduction and distribution. An AI model does neither.” He congratulates Parliament in not defining training as copying. The IAPP does not think the issue will go away<\/a>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
        3. SAAS is being eaten alive. New data shows how AI agents are killing the subscription model<\/a> suggesting that SAAS systems are vulnerable to competition from AI bots and massively improved programming productivity. By Rohit Thakur<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        4. I thought AI output was free to use I was wrong<\/a>, on Medium, an essay on the state of law on using AI images by onchain journals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          See also https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/uk-us-technology-partnership\/<\/a> on this wiki, where I note specifically about the UK\/US technology deal. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          I have been reading and thinking about the economics of AI. Here some articles that I have read or not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[137,3,1],"tags":[2012,2011,554,138,909,911,2215],"class_list":["post-12241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-technology","category-uncategorized","tag-ai","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-copyright","tag-economics-2","tag-power","tag-technology","tag-water"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/mastodon.social\/@davelevy_eu\/114227591797982406","error":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/ai-chrisyang-unsplash-w1080.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12241"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14231,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12241\/revisions\/14231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/davelevy.info\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}