Venkatesh Rao Says AI Elites May Hoard Intelligence Like Mercantilists Hoarded Gold

What happened

Engineer Venkatesh Rao argues in an essay on his Contraptions blog that AI fears echo mercantilism, with many elites treating intelligence as a scarce resource experts should keep expensive and withhold from rivals. He says openly available AI models could lead people to think more, not less, by making previously costly projects feasible, and that policy should focus on fair access to AI rather than protecting legacy knowledge jobs.

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The story so far

Engineer Venkatesh Rao argues in an essay on his Contraptions blog that some elites treat intelligence as a scarce resource to keep expensive and withhold from rivals, much as mercantilists hoarded gold. He says openly available AI models could make more people think by making previously costly projects feasible. Rao argues that policy should focus on fair access to AI rather than protecting legacy knowledge jobs.