Most of AI moats are just fuel
The author argues that intelligence has become a commodity and that context and know-how are fuel rather than moats, since competitors using the same models can eventually catch up. He defines a moat as something that protects a business even if no new resources are added, and contends that most items on common AI-moat lists—capital, distribution, audience, scale economies, and technology—are fuel, while reinforcing loops such as network effects and data effects can become genuine moats. He also suggests subsidised AI subscriptions are fuel spent to start a data loop, with user corrections improving models that attract more users.