AI Inequality

The transition from universal access to frontier AI models toward a future of scarcity and selectivity is driven by compounding security, economic, and geopolitical constraints. As demand for tokens outpaces supply, developers are increasingly restricting access to state-of-the-art models like Anthropic’s Mythos, prioritizing trusted partners over the general public to mitigate misuse risks and prevent model distillation. This shift creates a divide between frontier "haves" and "have-nots," further exacerbated by compute crunches and government intervention. While some policymakers propose moratoriums on data center construction to address these concerns, such measures paradoxically accelerate inequality by limiting the infrastructure necessary for broader diffusion. Ultimately, the current era of equitable access to advanced AI is closing, necessitating a focus on scaling infrastructure and building resilient systems to avoid deep-seated geopolitical and economic asymmetries.