AI community is abusing the Jevons Paradox label, David Patterson says
davidpattersonx · x · 2026-07-21
David Patterson argues that the AI community is misusing the Jevons Paradox label. In the quoted context, he says the situation is really about demand elasticity: if something gets better or cheaper, demand rises, and that is not paradoxical.
He adds that Jevons Paradox only applies when people were trying to conserve a natural resource by reducing its use. In this case, the goal was never to sell less AI.
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