Maybe Meta Is Right About AI, or at Least Jeremy Stern Is

× Jeremy Stern’s profile of Mark Zuckerberg in Colossus explains why Meta’s AI strategy could work even without having the best model. I agree with much of his argument. It also helps separate two questions that are often conflated: how useful AI becomes and how much pricing power model developers retain. I’ve written about this in AI Models Are the New Rebar and AI Models as Standalone P&Ls. A model can remain useful after competitors reproduce its capabilities. The premium customers will pay for access can then approach zero. I’m increasingly convinced that this describes the economics of much of the model market. Why Meta does not need to sell access to its AI models Stern describes two objections to Zuckerberg’s spending. If AI does not commoditize, Meta will remain behind the leading labs. If it does, Meta will have spent a fortune developing something competitors can also supply. He summarizes the critics’ position: Heads, his rivals win; tails, he loses. The second objection…