Source: Semafor
The article argues that AI consolidation won't follow the internet era's pattern, where early movers like Netscape and AOL were displaced by scaled followers like Google and Facebook. If correct, AI wealth concentration will happen earlier and more decisively. AI's technical barriers to entry and capital requirements are steeper than the web's were, favoring existing megacap platforms over startup cycles. For founders and investors, the implication is direct: the traditional playbook of losing money early to win market share later may not work in an AI stack already dominated by Microsoft, Google, and Meta.