The Great Token Wager (opens in new tab)

In the first half of 2026 the AI infrastructure buildout has been firmly top of mind.1 The November 2022 launch of ChatGPT brought large-language models into the spotlight, and with each passing year you could feel the diffusion into nearly every conversation about the future of work, education, and culture. To feed the insatiable appetite for generative AI, the industry is making capital investments without recent precedent. From a recent column in The Economist, emphasis mine: