Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD, blockchain and AI senior advisor.
Elon Musk and Peter Diamandis help the concept that “the whole lot will likely be free.” They purport to imagine that AI abundance will finish poverty and supply a common excessive revenue.
Others within the mega tech ecosystem point out the approaching abundance. Demis Hassabis, for instance, says AI might spark a “renaissance” of “radical abundance.”
Politicians on the World Financial Discussion board 2026 in Davos preferred Musk’s imaginative and prescient. They have been thrilled that their financial issues would quickly be “let loose.” This story is kind of interesting. Who doesn’t wish to get issues without spending a dime?
What does it actually imply? Would all financial actions don’t have any price? Would all companies grow to be altruistic and search no revenue?
Allow us to unpack the narrative.
The price of manufacturing might be low-cost, however by no means zero
Let’s put issues in perspective. Within the age of AI abundance, services won’t arrive out of “skinny air.” They might nonetheless want labor, supplies, power and infrastructure.
The advances in AI and different rising applied sciences could result in very low-cost power and extremely automated manufacturing. This evolution will consequence within the marginal price of most digital and even bodily items approaching zero.
This is because of three essential elements. First is the automation of labor, the place machines and AI deal with nearly all manufacturing, logistics and plenty of companies. The second is superior manufacturing and AI distribution, like 3D printing, robotics and AI logistics techniques that drastically scale back waste and stock, making “sufficient for everybody” technically possible. Lastly, plentiful power — fusion or extremely‑low-cost photo voltaic makes power so inexpensive that it stops being the bottleneck.
As a result of power underlies the whole lot bodily, all different prices fall.
Plans are already in place. Elon Musk is now prioritizing lunar manufacturing and AI, with a objective of over 1,000 gigawatts of solar energy. Utilizing photo voltaic power as an alternative of nuclear energy will scale back power price to nearly zero. The catch: the preliminary price to ascertain the infrastructure on the moon could be very excessive, and it might want to beat main challenges.
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Below these circumstances, it’s believable that schooling assets grow to be considerably free to the consumer as a result of they’re AI‑generated and infinitely replicable as soon as the system is constructed. A big fraction of healthcare turns into extraordinarily low-cost, as soon as the suitable AI and robotic infrastructure exists.
On the stage of physics and engineering, if the true bottlenecks — power and automation — are plentiful, prices collapse, however they don’t fully disappear.
Infrastructure is the lacking layer that nobody talks about
Robotics and power have to run at scale and pace to create an “abundance” of the whole lot for everybody. For this, it wants infrastructure.
Automation and robotics run on what Jensen Haung calls “AI factories.” That is AI infrastructure, representing a shift in the direction of treating AI improvement as an industrial course of, enabling organizations to repeatedly prepare and refine AI fashions for higher security and effectivity.
They’re specialised, high-performance computing information facilities designed to “manufacture” intelligence by changing uncooked information into skilled AI fashions and tokens, fairly than merely storing information. Utilizing superior GPUs and big interconnected infrastructure, they’re the engines of AI functions resembling autonomous automobiles, robotics and generative AI.
AI factories are costly. They want some huge cash to construct and run. Firms which have already arrange the infrastructure will continue to grow and enhancing. For instance, Nvidia is 5 instances extra worthwhile than IBM was within the Nineteen Eighties, with solely a tenth of the employees. Productiveness and income will improve, as a result of AI tremendously boosts effectivity. Investments will go to those that personal AI fashions, platforms and particularly the infrastructure.
This may result in the most important focus of wealth in historical past.
Main gamers embrace tech giants like Nvidia, AWS and SpaceX. They may proceed to dominate the market, making it powerful for newcomers to compete.
Governments are additionally concerned. China is utilizing its big photo voltaic power capability to spice up the energy-heavy AI increase. This creates a singular “AI and power” ecosystem. Right here, synthetic intelligence optimises renewable power era, whereas solar energy helps information centres. China is seen as a frontrunner in renewable power use.
Low cost power shouldn’t be low-cost
Power is the gas that runs AI factories, that are the engine of all robotics, automation and AI functions that may generate abundance. Power fuels the infrastructure, and infrastructure runs the AI functions. Due to this fact, power is the true bottleneck. With out low-cost power, this “free” principle fails.
At the moment, electrical energy is the first type of power used to run the infrastructure. China is aggressively integrating renewable power into its infrastructure and different areas are increasing renewable-powered power into information facilities as nicely. Electrical energy era and grid capability for AI-scale infrastructure could be very expensive and never scalable. To achieve abundance at scale, power should be very low-cost and scalable.
What are the choices?
Fission power is a kind of or nuclear power. It’s totally mature, offering steady energy, however produces radioactive waste. It carries the danger of nuclear proliferation, and security considerations concerning meltdowns. It’s cheaper than present fossil-based electrical energy sources however nonetheless has a tangible price, and, like the opposite electrical energy sources it’s restricted, and never scalable.
Fusion power entails merging mild atoms to create power, mimicking the solar, whereas conventional nuclear power splits heavy atoms. Fusion gives practically limitless, cleaner power with out long-lived high-level waste.
Fusion is inherently safer with no threat of a runaway chain response.
The caveat, nonetheless, is that fission is what’s at the moment getting used. Creating nuclear fusion for power is very costly and requires upfront investments of a whole bunch of billions of {dollars}, and it’s nonetheless experimental and certain many years away from large-scale industrial use.
In contrast to nuclear fission, nuclear fusion is scalable. It’s low-cost however not doesn’t price zero. Somebody has to pay the upfront prices to construct the infrastructure, to create it after which keep it.
Elon Musk goes to the moon
Lunar solar energy supplies ample power with out atmospheric points. But, it has excessive prices for launching, constructing and sustaining in a vacuum. Musk’s plan is to maneuver all manufacturing, together with the AI manufacturing facility, to the moon.
The moon has low gravity and loads of assets, making it the most affordable place for AI infrastructure.
Robots will terraform and construct infrastructure. People will come to supervise and broaden, whereas AI information centres will gas the area financial system.
With Starlink, SpaceX, Optimus robots and xAI, Musk is in a powerful place to make this occur.
Nevertheless, machines for making superior AI chips want to succeed in the moon. These bus-sized machines require very exact circumstances.
The answer is a brand new technique referred to as Atomically Exact Manufacturing (APM). This builds atom by atom and aligns with Musk’s “first precept” pondering.
If profitable, this might unlock limitless photo voltaic power and uncooked supplies from the moon and asteroids. There can be no thermal limits or atmospheric interference.
This might result in boundless AI at a low price. Specialists say that if lunar fabrication works, it might create a trillion-dollar, and even a whole bunch of trillions, alternative.
Who will profit most from this hundred-trillion-dollar probability? Will it’s shared pretty?
The mushy jail of “free”
When you may have centralized infrastructures and techniques, whoever owns the infrastructure units the phrases of engagement. Strongly centralized techniques can present in depth “free” companies, however in trade, they typically demand excessive management over speech, motion, information and financial decisions. Non‑authoritarian welfare states could commerce some particular person autonomy for safety and assured companies. Many “free” digital companies immediately are funded by surveillance, profiling and behavioral manipulation — your information and a focus are the true value.
In a world of AI abundance, the infrastructure could also be authorities owned. It could be owned by companies. It may very well be owned by means of a public-private partnership. Both manner, the infrastructure is centralized and the centralized energy will dictate the distribution phrases — how AI abundance is distributed, who will get what, below what circumstances. In the event that they want to, they will abruptly “shut the valve” and nothing is distributed both to a person or a gaggle. Your dependency on their companies turns into a “mushy jail” stripped of your autonomy and self-sovereignty.
It is likely to be a hundred-trillion-dollar alternative, however the proprietor of the centralized infrastructure will get the lion’s share and can dictate what is going to trickle right down to the plenty.
They are saying if one thing is “free”, you’re the product. This stays true in a world of sheer abundance. In that world, the product is your self-sovereignty.
Opinion by: Merav Ozair, PhD, blockchain and AI senior advisor.
This opinion article presents the creator’s skilled view, and it might not mirror the views of Cointelegraph.com. This content material has undergone editorial assessment to make sure readability and relevance. Cointelegraph stays dedicated to clear reporting and upholding the best requirements of journalism. Readers are inspired to conduct their very own analysis earlier than taking any actions associated to the corporate.
