How does widespread access to AI tools increase inequalities?
It's pretty clear that if AI delivers on its promise it'll decimate the income of all but the top 1% developers
Labor is worth less, capital and equity ownership make more or the same
I don't think that's a forgone conclusion yet.
I continue to hope that we see the opposite effect: the drop of cost in software development drives massively increased demand for both software and our services.
I wrote about that here: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/8/llm-predictions-for-202...
I keep flip-flopping between being optimistic and pessimistic on this, but yeah we just need to wait and see
Because as long as it is done in a capitalistic economy, it will be excluding the many from work, while driving profits to a few
It's pretty clear that if AI delivers on its promise it'll decimate the income of all but the top 1% developers
Labor is worth less, capital and equity ownership make more or the same
I don't think that's a forgone conclusion yet.
I continue to hope that we see the opposite effect: the drop of cost in software development drives massively increased demand for both software and our services.
I wrote about that here: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/8/llm-predictions-for-202...
I keep flip-flopping between being optimistic and pessimistic on this, but yeah we just need to wait and see
Because as long as it is done in a capitalistic economy, it will be excluding the many from work, while driving profits to a few