From open internet to open intelligence: Why AI’s market structure matters more than ever

The global market for artificial intelligence (AI) is taking shape at breathtaking speed—and with remarkably few constraints. Vast new data centers are being financed as if they were shopping centers. Foundation models are being treated as if they are the next “Intel Inside.” And the firms that used their control of computing power, data, and distribution to become Big Tech are relying on those same resources to control the tools of artificial intelligence, become Big AI, and dominate its downstream applications. This should concern everyone who believes innovation comes from competition, not control. AI is not merely another technology cycle. It is an infrastructure transformation that is as consequential as the printing press, as economy-shaping as electrification, and as society-reordering as the networked internet. Yet unlike earlier transformations, the AI era is developing at a moment when digital market power is already highly concentrated. The same companies that shaped the online platform era now sit at the center of AI. The question for policymakers globally is therefore not simply how to regulate AI risk, but whether market bottlenecks will be allowed to determine who gets to innovate, compete, and participate in the AI economy. It is the defining issue of the intelligence era.