AI monopolies: New report warns of the economic and social threats from dominant firms in generative artificial intelligence – Economic Policy
“(The researchers) conclude that in the absence of clear antitrust rules and other regulatory actions, market concentration in generative AI could lead to systemic risks and stark inequality.
“One major barrier to entry in the generative AI market is the immense computational power required to train the models. For example, a research team at Epoch estimates that Google’s DeepMind spent an astonishing $650 million to train its Gemini model. What’s more, they estimate that the cost of training the most cutting-edge frontier AI models is doubling every six months…”
“The researchers recommend particular antitrust scrutiny of vertical integration, including acquisitions of start-ups by Big Tech (recall Microsoft’s recent controversial investment in French AI newcomer, Mistral). As generative AI starts being used in more diverse economic applications and resembling an essential service like electricity, non-discrimination requirements will be needed so that private monopoly providers cannot arbitrarily determine who has access to the technology and who doesn’t…
“An important warning in the new study is that of regulatory capture: AI monopolies becoming so powerful that they can determine the trajectory of regulation (and deregulation) to their own benefit. The cost of not heeding the warning could be a future where one or two generative AI providers control a significant portion of the entire economy. This could give rise to stark inequality and render society vulnerable to errors and attacks in a single point of failure.”
Below are a few examples of how AI impacts the market. Just below that, see a detailed description of how Israel uses AI to select bombing targets in Gaza:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use Cases and Applications – Intel