Topic
The business of artificial intelligence
9 articles drawn from The Intelligence Equation, its 24 industry studies and 100 companies profiles.
Explainer
AI Inference Costs Explained: Why Tokens Get Cheaper, Bills Don't
What AI inference costs, why the price per token falls about 10x a year, why reasoning and agents make bills rise anyway, and what it does to gross margins.
9 min read
Guide
AI Wrapper Startups: How to Tell If One Has a Moat
How to evaluate whether an AI wrapper startup has a moat: the thin vs thick test, platform risk from model suppliers, and lessons from Jasper, Windsurf and Cursor.
8 min read
Explainer
CoreWeave's Business Model Explained: How a Neocloud Makes Money
How CoreWeave makes money renting Nvidia GPUs on multi-year contracts, why 60% EBITDA margins still produce losses, and the three clocks behind neocloud risk.
8 min read
Guide
How to Price an AI Product: Seats, Usage or Outcomes
A practical guide to AI pricing: how to choose between seats, usage, credits and outcome pricing, test margins at heavy usage, and learn from Cursor and Sierra.
8 min read
Comparison
Open vs Closed AI Models: How Each Business Model Makes Money
Open-weight vs closed AI models compared: who makes money from each, what licences allow, when self-hosting pays, and why labs open when behind and close when ahead.
8 min read
Case study
What Happened to Inflection AI? The $4 Billion Lab That Microsoft Hired
Inflection AI raised $1.5 billion and built Pi, then Microsoft hired its founders and most staff in 2024. Here is what went wrong and what the company is now.
7 min read
Case study
Why Nvidia Dominates AI Chips: CUDA, Systems and Scarcity
Nvidia earns about 75% gross margins on AI hardware. Here is why: a 2006 software bet, a full-system product, control of supply, and what threatens it.
9 min read
Case study
Why the Humane Ai Pin Failed: $230 Million and 10,000 Units
Humane raised about $230 million, sold about 10,000 Ai Pins and was sold to HP for $116 million in 2025. Here is why the AI device failed, with the numbers.
7 min read