The Collapse of Rent-Seeking: How AI Democratizes Markets

AI fundamentally threatens business models built on exploiting human time constraints—from cable companies designing frustrating call center protocols to restaurants charging for reservations. Unlike previous disruptive technologies, AI appears democratized through accessible APIs rather than controlled by monopolies, which could finally eliminate artificial market friction and force proper pricing of services. This represents a pivotal moment where decades of rent-extraction built into the economy face existential pressure.