In a comprehensive analysis for Bloomberg, Azeem Azhar explores how artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing our economic model by making expertise abundant and affordable. Azhar, who writes the Exponential View newsletter, argues that AI is the next major step in the historical progression of lowering intelligence costs, following innovations like the printing press and the internet.
The article details how new AI reasoning models like OpenAI’s o1 can perform complex analytical tasks that previously required specialized human expertise. Azhar shares his personal experience designing a board game with ChatGPT in hours and using AI research assistants that can conduct comprehensive analyses in minutes rather than days.
According to Azhar, most companies are still using AI primarily for cost-cutting in areas like customer service rather than tackling high-value challenges in R&D or strategic planning. He notes that Salesforce now handles 86% of weekly customer inquiries with AI, while Klarna manages two-thirds of customer support via AI, saving $40 million.
The shift from scarce, expensive expertise to abundant, affordable intelligence will transform how companies organize themselves and innovate. As intelligence becomes nearly free, the real constraint becomes knowing what questions to ask and how to implement the resulting insights. Organizations that can effectively harness this new cognitive abundance will gain significant competitive advantages in speed, innovation capacity, and strategic planning.