Venkatesh Rao essay: AI elite's approach to intelligence compared to mercantilism
Engineer Venkatesh Rao argues in an essay on the Contraptions blog that part of the AI elite treats intelligence as a scarce resource, similar to how mercantilists hoarded gold, and proposes focusing on fair access to AI instead of protecting outdated jobs.
Engineer Venkatesh Rao published an essay on his technology blog Contraptions in which he compares the stance of part of the AI elite toward intelligence to mercantilism – an economic doctrine preceding capitalism, according to which wealth (land, gold) was considered finite and ordinary people counted only as labor. According to Rao, many elites today take a similar approach to intelligence: they view it as a scarce and dangerous resource that should be managed by experts, kept expensive, and withheld from competitors. In this framework, openly available AI models are seen as a threat, and Rao, by his own words, claims that some representatives of AI companies exploit safety concerns for political influence.
Rao draws a parallel to the early phases of capitalism, when people voluntarily worked 300 days a year instead of 250 so they could afford tea or sugar – a similar effect, he says, could also be triggered by AI. Instead of making people think less, AI may make them think more, because it will enable the realization of projects that were previously too costly or demanding. Demand for ideas would thus grow, he argues, rather than AI depriving people of employment.
The political priority, according to Rao, should therefore be ensuring fair access to AI, not protecting outdated knowledge-based jobs. The essay further argues that even autonomous AI agents should have room to pursue their own projects and generate new demand for intelligence, rather than merely executing assigned commands – albeit with the necessary safeguards.
Why it matters
This is an opinion contribution to the debate on how AI should be regulated and whom it should serve – not an announcement of a product, a company policy, or a specific change. Rao offers a framework that challenges the common "AI will take jobs" debate and instead points to the question of access to and control over intelligence as a resource.
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