The Future of AI: One Giant or Many Titans?

Author(s): Ilyas Iyoob, PhD

Originally published on Towards AI.

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Right now, different large language models (LLMs) shine in different areas — one excels at coding, another at generating images, another at writing. But give it time… As the field matures, these differences will blur. Eventually, LLMs will become “just another model,” much like search engines today. But what does that mean? Will we see one dominant player, much like Google in search? Or will AI remain a competitive field with specialized champions excelling in different areas?

Let’s break it down using three perspectives: the advantage of being first, the dynamics of competition, and the long-term outlook for AI dominance.

A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research tracked 2,000 people’s search habits over two weeks. The key finding? The main reason people stuck with Google wasn’t quality, nor accuracy — it was just the inconvenience of switching.

This highlights a fundamental truth: in tech, being first to market isn’t just an advantage — it’s a moat. OpenAI, much like Google in Search, benefits from:

Brand Recognition — It’s the default AI assistant for millions.Infrastructure Dominance — The ecosystem (APIs, integrations, business adoption) is already in place.Massive Training Data — A head start that compounds… Read the full blog for free on Medium.

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Published via Towards AI