There Is Only One AI Company. Welcome to the Blob
Summary
Steven Levy describes how the AI industry has effectively merged into a single, interconnected entity — a “Blob” — formed by deep ties among model creators (OpenAI, Anthropic), cloud providers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google), and chip suppliers (Nvidia). Tracing the arc from idealistic origins (Elon Musk and the founding of OpenAI) to large commercial deals and infrastructural dependencies, the piece argues the market now centres on a few companies that control compute, models, distribution and customers.
Author style
Punchy. Levy mixes narrative history and reporting to make a big-picture claim: AI isn’t just an industry, it’s an ecosystem that’s fused. If you care who holds power over future tech, this is written to make you sit up and notice.
Key Points
- Concentration: Nvidia, major cloud providers and leading model-builders are increasingly interdependent, creating a de facto single AI ecosystem.
- Nvidia’s hardware dominance makes it a chokepoint — control of GPUs translates to outsized influence over model development and deployment.
- Big commercial deals (cloud compute contracts, investments and partnerships) knit the players together and raise barriers for newcomers.
- Origins matter: OpenAI’s shift from an idealistic non-profit to a commercial player illustrates tension between mission and market incentives.
- Economic effects: massive data-centre and infrastructure spending is reshaping the broader economy and geopolitics of AI supply chains.
- Risks: reduced competition, regulatory and antitrust concern, potential stifling of open innovation and greater systemic vulnerabilities.
Context and relevance
The article matters because AI’s benefits and harms will be shaped by who controls models, compute and distribution. The trends Levy highlights — consolidation, vertical integration and huge cloud deals — are central to current debates about competition policy, national strategy, and how startups and open-source projects can survive. This is relevant to policymakers, investors, engineers and anyone tracking where power in tech is moving.
Why should I read this?
Short answer: because this story maps who actually runs the AI show. Levy’s piece pulls together the deals, the chip supply drama and the industry history so you don’t have to — and it’s useful if you want quick clarity on why a handful of companies now set the rules of the game.
Source
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/ai-industry-monopoly-nvidia-microsoft-google/