The Commanding Heights: AI's wealth won't stay with labs — it goes to whoever owns the channels
EricBuess · x · 2026-10-31
Will Manidis and Joe Roberts' Oct 29 essay argues AI's money won't stay with model labs but with whoever owns the channels AI flows through: "one either owns the rails or pays those who do." History repeats: Gutenberg went broke while Standard Oil got rich on pipelines; railroads, Bell Labs/transistors, and chip design vs. chipmaking follow the same pattern. Making and serving models today resembles early captive-route locomotives — revenue from early adopters plugging AI into existing work — while model prices fall 13x per year. AI was born in San Francisco, but the lasting returns will be locked in elsewhere.
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