Can money alone win the AI race? Money is necessary in the AI race—but it is not sufficient. And real breakthroughs are rarely about money.
The steam engine, the electric bulb, the internet browser, the high speed ip switch, internet search …. None of these came from large conglomerates or from particularly well funded startups. Putting too much sugar won’t make it sweeter. It will give you diabetes. Obesity will slow you down. Staff gets busy in spending their salaries rather than in working or learning. In the end, they all fail.
The current model of artificial intelligence requires enormous capital. Training frontier models demands massive computing clusters, specialized chips, energy, and vast datasets. Building this infrastructure can cost hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. And this is eventually going to fail. The amounts involved will make it impossible for anyone outside the unholy cartels to win or even join the race.
But history suggests that money alone rarely wins technological races.
Money helps build infrastructure and attract people. But breakthroughs often emerge from small teams with strong intellectual coherence, not just from the largest budgets.
In that sense, the AI race may resemble earlier technology races. Capital determines who can participate at the highest level. But the ultimate winners are usually decided by ideas, talent, and execution—not money alone.
There is one strong exception though. Bitcoin and blockchain. It is the one Indian breakthrough that makes every competing breakthrough look inconsequential. No organisation. Unknown promoter. Open Source. No company. No investors.
My personal gut says that bitcoin is the model for ai. Not the spray pray model of the unholy American alliance led by Nvidia and openAI. It is more and more feeling like a scam.
Not just on the tech claims. But pretty much on everything else – stock market included. It is the old “android and iOS playbook” with “cia and military support” with the narrative, “America will save the world”.
