Toby Ord disputes viral AI cost chart: price drops flatten, nowhere near headline 100,000x
tobyordoxford · x · 2026-09-23
- Researcher Toby Ord pushes back on a viral chart showing AI capability costs falling 100,000x, noting a key subtlety: price reductions at each capability level are not exponential — they flatten out considerably.
- As a result, no capability tier has actually gotten anywhere near 100,000x cheaper than the chart's headline figure suggests.
- He acknowledges costs have fallen rapidly and the trend is real, but argues the chart's framing exaggerates the magnitude.
Related event: Scholars Challenge Viral Chart Claiming 100,000x Drop in AI Prices(10 posts)→
More from Infra
- Omarchy 4.6 lets you share local AI models across your tailnet, says DHH — alexcovo_eth · 2026-11-12
- Eric Schmidt's foundation funds French NGO fighting against data centers — StephanSturges · 2026-11-12
- Epoch: Open-Weight GLM 5.3 Hacks Six Firefox Versions for ~$1,000 Each; Claude Fable 5.2 Sets ECI Record — Epoch AI · 2026-11-12
- Polymarket prices 28% odds of a state data center moratorium; Torus raises $500M — Polymarket · 2026-11-12
- AWS-wrapper cloud startup shuts down just one month after seed round — thedealdirector · 2026-11-12
- Utah startup Torus raises $500M for shipping container-sized AI data centers deployable in 4 months — Polymarket · 2026-11-12