Tech Tycoons have actually Got the Economics of AI Wrong

Even as economic development was simply removing, some economic experts were currently downhearted. Coal, composed William Stanley Jevons in 1865, is “the mainspring of modern material civilisation”. Yet it was limited and would quickly go out. Although more might be discovered by digging deeper, it would be increasingly expensive to extract and these higher costs would minimize the competitiveness of Britain’s makers. After all, in other nations the black fuel was still in sight of daytime. Efficiency gains-using less coal to produce the same amount of stuff-would not conserve the country. Indeed, cleverer usage of restricted resources would just supply an incentive to burn a lot more coal, which would, paradoxically, result in an even quicker usage of British reserves. There was no escape, the Victorian economist believed. Coal would be exhausted and the country was likely to “contract to her previous littleness”.

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This post appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the heading “Rocked by DeepSeek”

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Tech magnates have actually got the economics of AI incorrect

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