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The AI everyone is racing to build is turning into cheap plumbing

It is tempting to assume whoever has the best AI wins, but the price of using AI is falling fast. The analyst Benedict Evans argues the models themselves are becoming low margin infrastructure, cheap and interchangeable, with the real value going to whoever builds something useful on top. He points to mobile data, which grew into a trillion dollar business while the networks carrying it barely gained, because the money moved to the apps above them.

For youBefore you spend a weekend mastering the newest AI tool, spend it on what a cheaper AI can't copy. Get on a call with your best client and understand their problem more deeply than any model could. Start writing down the know-how and data only you have, so you can build on it. Those keep their value when the tool gets cheap. The tool will not.

Source: Benedict Evans