What moats survive AI? Network effects, capital, speed and charisma, says Jon Stokes
nptacek · x · 2026-10-17
Jon Stokes lists the business moats he believes still hold in the AI era: network effects, access to capital, execution speed, proprietary information, proximity to power, charisma — and violence — concluding this is basically unchanged since the advent of urbanization. A counter to the claim that AI erases all competitive advantage: AI lowers capability barriers, not structural ones.
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