Google v Microsoft: the battle of AI business models
The search giant’s vertically integrated approach is beginning to pay off
For Most of the World, Open-Source AI Is the Only Way Forward
Proprietary AI is both too expensive and too centralized in control for most countries and companies to rely upon.
How to think about AI company finances
OpenAI and Anthropic are using the standard tech startup playbook.
Microsoft reports are exposing AI's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees | Fortune
Companies are racing to incentivize employees to use AI. But as some companies are finding, the more employees that use the technology, the heavier the bill.
OpenAI targets workplace professionals as enterprise AI demand surges
‘These leaders recognize AI as the most consequential shift of their lifetime, and they’re asking us how to reinvent their companies around it’
Celebrating 250 million: Empowering communities to enable the global AI economy
Microsoft surpasses its digital access goal, partnering with governments and Starlink to expand connectivity and support long‑term participation in the AI economy
Impressions from visiting OpenAI, Anthropic, & Cursor
A peek into where software engineering is headed from inside the sector’s leading AI labs. Agents running in the cloud are a major trend, while coding harnesses are spreading beyond the craft
AI Economy Institute - Microsoft Research
The AI Economy Institute (AIEI) is Microsoft’s flagship think tank dedicated to shaping an inclusive, trustworthy AI economy. We building a network of scholars and convening that network with our subject matter experts to explore how artificial intelligence is transforming work, education, and productivity – and making this knowledge base available to policy-makers, educators, and […]
Google and Microsoft offer lucrative deals to promote AI, but even $500,000 won't sway some creators
Tech companies including Google and Microsoft are paying influencers hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote AI products.
OpenAI’s vision for the AI economy: public wealth funds, robot taxes, and a four-day workweek | TechCrunch
OpenAI proposes taxes on AI profits, public wealth funds, and expanded safety nets to address job loss and inequality, blending redistribution with capitalism as policymakers debate AI’s economic impact.
OpenAI strikes Reddit deal to train its AI on your posts
Reddit’s signed AI licensing deals with Google and OpenAI.
AI Benefits - But at What Cost?
In 2026 we can all agree that AI and agentic development are certainly exciting topics which many see yielding great productivity gains. But as the investor-subsidized pricing of these services gives way to realistic and profitable business models, where will the real costs land?
Pluralistic: Google’s AI pricing plan (21 Jan 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
Google is spending a lot on AI, but what's not clear is how Google will make a lot from AI. Or, you know, even break even. Given, you know, that businesses are seeing zero return from AI:
AI is eating website traffic, websites are blocking AI – and reliable information is getting harder to find
AI has broken the economic bargain behind the web, and everybody is losing.
Economic incentives is a big problem with AI in open-source spaces. Finding is unevenly allocated, and AI leads to further disparity. Instead of spreading money around the dev community, it'll go to AI companies. Open source thrives on humans. We don't need rockstars, we need resources.
Lucca @ Northsky 💚💜
they should be giving out more of that to the community as grants and focusing on protocol governance and standards and bringing new people into atproto.
"AI makes it cheaper to contribute to Open Source, but it's not making life easier for maintainers. More contributions are flowing in, but the burden of evaluating them still falls on the same small group of people. That asymmetric pressure risks breaking maintainers." also relevant to slop science
