AI, platforms and the battle for the customer
For some time, investors have pondered the AI revolution in terms of relative winners and losers, who will spend the most to “win” and whether “winning” presents a Pyrrhic victory in the sense that to win the AI arms race - if you are, for example, a cloud infrastructure provider - companies may risk overcapitalising, with a subsequent collapse in returns on capital. These are important questions, but a more recent dynamic has emerged too that warrants attention.