What Happens When Everyone Gets Access to AI?

00:01 — Opening

Hey, welcome to Slow Builds.

So this one is going to be about: what if everything was free?

What if AI was free?

And what could become of that?

So let me jump into it.

00:14 — Starting with the main point earlier

I'm starting to look at these videos as something where I need to put out what this is going to lead to early, because I get slow, then I get kind of into it, and sometimes I lose my way.

So lately I've been thinking about — and I've done videos on this — how we're all fighting for resources right now.

Energy. Money. Access. Everyone trying to get what they can get. How much everything costs.

And right now, those things are limited.

So it kind of makes sense that these fights are going on, and that we keep hitting these limits.

But I keep wondering…

what happens if all that kind of stops?

00:49 — If energy stops being scarce

Take energy for a second.

Elon has talked about how much energy the sun produces, and how much we actually use.

Even if we wanted to power the entire world, we would only use a fraction of what the sun could do.

So basically, energy — as long as we can capture it and use it — would eventually become almost nothing in cost.

The delivery system would still cost money.

The transportation, the storage, the distribution.

We're not there yet.

But in my mind, it feels like it's coming.

01:23 — Cheaper energy means cheaper compute

So if you follow that a little bit more…

energy becomes so cheap that the constraint starts to disappear.

And that changes who gets access to things.

Because right now, energy is related to everything.

Food.

Transportation.

Manufacturing.

Computing.

And AI is a big part of that future.

Right now AI probably takes a large chunk of energy, especially if we start using it at the capacity we want to use it.

That's why tokens cost money.

That's why running these models is so expensive.

And that's why we're trying to make them more efficient — or at least make capturing and using the electricity more efficient.

02:11 — When compute becomes abundant

So if energy drops and basically becomes kind of a free utility, or a free resource in a way…

we capture it from the sun, it goes to solar panels, it comes down to us…

then the only things that really cost money are transportation, storage, and distribution.

And that's where my brain starts going.

Because if energy becomes that cheap of a commodity…

compute power becomes cheap.

We almost make these AI models limitless.

02:50 — It changes more than AI

And it's not even just AI.

Think about driving a car.

Sure, you still have to make the car and build the car.

But once you have it, driving it becomes almost free.

Buses.

Semi trucks.

Boats.

Planes might be a bit more of a problem, but drones could deliver food, medicine, supplies, search-and-rescue equipment — all kinds of things.

When energy becomes cheap to use, and we have the systems that need that energy, the whole world changes quite a bit.

03:31 — Hitting AI limits now

And that's where my brain goes.

Because right now, I hit limits all the time.

Claude.

ChatGPT.

Codex.

Grok.

I'm always pushing up against that limit of:

"You're out of tokens."

"It resets in two hours."

And I hate that so much.

It almost makes me want to use my work access for personal stuff, but you can't do that because then it all gets mixed together.

But it makes me wonder how much companies are really paying for all this.

04:10 — Companies forcing or limiting usage

And that's another video I'm going to do.

I touched on it a little bit before, how token usage can be looked at as a good thing or a bad thing.

If you're using too much, maybe someone thinks you're not a great coder.

But I just had a friend here who said their company actually has reports that the manager gets for employees.

And if you're not using it enough, you can basically get written up.

So it's the complete opposite.

They're really forcing it.

They're willing to pay for it at the moment.

It's kind of crazy.

04:49 — It isn't about using more

Other companies that are running lean are probably trying to find ways to limit access and make their employees more efficient with it, because they don't want to waste too much money.

And I do believe people waste a lot of money on it.

So yes, you can use it more.

But to me, that's a bad metric.

It's not how much you use it.

It's how you use it.

I always felt like I was using it quite wrong, and I've hit a lot of limits.

But I've gotten better at it.

I don't know if that's me getting better, or if the app is learning me more with memory and files and history.

Maybe it understands my nuances better now.

Maybe there's caching going on.

Maybe it's being more efficient.

But hopefully that's lowering my cost.

05:43 — Personal pricing perspective

I'm paying for Pro and I barely hit limits anymore unless I'm doing something really strenuous with files or bigger tasks.

But then I have friends using bigger plans, like the $200-a-month plan, and they're hitting limits.

And they're making fun of me.

And I'm like, dude, I'm almost on the free one compared to that, and I'm not hitting limits anymore.

So maybe I'm doing something right.

Maybe I'm not completely off the rails with how my brain is using it.

But anyway, I got way off topic on that.

06:14 — The real question

Here's where this video really wants to go.

And this is what I mean when I say I start these videos and they go way off.

I lose people in the beginning.

So hopefully people stick around long enough to get to the base of what I'm trying to say.

My idea is this:

If all of this became free…

and everyone had access to it…

what is this world going to create?

What is the world going to look like?

06:45 — The Olympics analogy

The example I always think about is the Olympics.

Sports in general.

You have these athletes that we praise.

The greatest athlete in the world.

The fastest runner.

The highest jumper.

The best basketball player.

And these are people who come from societies that had access.

Someone found them.

Someone trained them.

Someone helped them become the best at what they're doing.

07:14 — Hidden talent without access

But I honestly believe there are places in the world where there's someone who has no access to technology, no training, no visibility…

and if you put them out there, even with almost no training, they could be the strongest person in the world.

Or maybe there's someone in a country with no access to basketball who could be the next Steph Curry.

Maybe they're the greatest three-point shooter ever.

Maybe they're the best dribbler.

Maybe they're the greatest shooter.

We have no idea.

I think there are people in the world who are probably better than the best person we know right now.

They just don't have access.

08:00 — Apply that idea to AI

And I take that same idea and apply it to AI, compute, and energy.

Energy is the biggest problem here.

Access is the biggest problem.

If everyone suddenly had a cell phone, or a computer, or some other way to access AI…

if Starlink or something like it is sending down the connection…

if free energy exists…

if someone gets an old computer, an old iPhone, or a new iPhone…

and suddenly they can talk to an AI model…

then their access changes completely.

They don't even need a powerful computer.

They just need a way to talk to the model.

And you know where I'm going with that.

08:48 — Different constraints create different ideas

I believe there are people in this world who have creative ideas because of their situation.

Because of their lack of access.

Because of the limitations they've lived with.

And they might create some of the craziest, coolest things that our brains can't even think of.

We can't fathom them.

It's like when you read a story, or watch a movie, or play a video game, and you think:

"Man, how did they think of that?"

There are people out there who probably have that kind of creativity.

They just haven't had access.

09:28 — Survival mode changes what people can build

And we often see that lack of access as only a bad thing.

And it is bad in a lot of ways.

But I also think it can create a different perspective.

Imagine people in parts of the world where food, shelter, clean water, medicine — things we take for granted — are daily struggles.

Imagine the ideas that person would have to make their life better.

Maybe it's something simple.

Something we would never think about.

But they would.

And if they have access to a phone where they can talk to AI…

and AI can help them build an app…

or deploy something…

or use satellite data…

or 3D printing…

or drones…

who knows where that goes?

It becomes kind of endless.

10:22 — Utopia tangent

And this connects to another video I want to do about how I believe the world AI is creating could almost become a utopia in a way.

I already did the video where I talked about how the future could become very boring depending on how it plays out.

But I also believe it could become a kind of utopia, where things become free, access opens up, and maybe people only die from old age.

Maybe not even that anymore.

My wife is watching Upload right now, and she makes fun of that idea.

But I'm like, well, you never know.

If we can get consciousness into the system, why does the consciousness of the person actually have to die?

The body could be dead, but the consciousness…

Okay, I'm not going down that path.

That's a totally different video.

11:11 — Core idea

What this video is really about is this:

If we put this technology in the hands of people who have had no access…

people with limited resources…

what can they think of?

What can they create?

And I'm honestly very excited for where the world might end up at some point.

Because when you take millions of people who are currently in survival mode…

and you remove that constant survival pressure…

you let them breathe a little bit.

You let them relax.

You give them access.

Now they can unlock the creative side of their brains instead of only focusing on:

Where is my next meal coming from?

Is this mosquito bite going to kill me?

Am I safe?

Can I get medicine?

12:16 — What opens up after survival mode

Now all of a sudden, they can relax.

They can use their brains differently.

They can open up and be more creative.

And imagine the stories.

The movies.

The books.

The inventions.

The apps.

The communication.

Everything.

That's the part I'm excited to see.

Because they're going to build things around education, work, economy, scarcity, policy, product ideas, and app ideas from a completely different angle.

At all levels.

In all countries.

As soon as those limitations are lifted, and your brain is allowed to be a little more creative — not worrying about your next meal, but focusing more on exploring — I think that unlocks something.

13:18 — What people become

I think we're going to see great ideas from people who have never had a chance to explore them before.

Different perspectives.

Different problems.

Different ways of approaching things.

Different ways of solving puzzles.

And that's the part I think about most.

It's not just what AI becomes.

It's what people become when they don't have to hold everything else together first.

14:02 — The first wave is still narrow

That's where I think AI can become creative.

Right now, a lot of smart people are using AI to help them build code, build new ideas, attract money, make simple apps, and answer basic questions.

But the people using it right now are mostly the people who are already more well-off or already have access.

As soon as it becomes available to the masses, at all levels, I think we're going to see a massive explosion of great ideas.

And not just more ideas.

A different take on things.

Because now we're in a world where maybe there is less poverty.

Less hunger.

Less starvation.

And more people with space to think.

14:49 — Optimistic, with some caution

This one is hard to finish because my mind goes to those odd places of excitement.

Not scared.

Not worried.

More just wondering what's capable.

There is the scary side.

Someone might figure out ways to scam people or be malicious.

But I try to stay optimistic about that.

Hopefully people are smart enough to avoid it.

And hopefully the guardrails are put in place before we get there.

But I do believe that access for all changes everything.

And it brings us to a place where we're going to see some amazing things happen.

15:41 — Closing

Alright, thanks for watching.

This one was a bit of a ramble.

But the idea is this:

When a group of people who have had no access, who have lived in completely different circumstances, suddenly have those circumstances change dramatically…

they don't forget where they came from.

They know other people are still going through the same things.

And they don't want it to happen again.

Now they have the resources to express those ideas and try to solve those problems.

And I really believe we're going to see some amazing things come out of this.

Maybe over the next decade.

Maybe two decades.

But I think it's going to happen faster than people think.

Through technology.

Through real products.

Through people finally getting access.

It's going to be really interesting.

And I'm very excited for what's about to come.

Thanks for watching.