The first mover advantage isn't as big an advantage as being the one to monopolize a commodity. While there are some historical advantages to first mover's doin

The first mover advantage isn't as big an advantage as being the one to monopolize a commodity. While there are some historical advantages to first mover's doing this, it is the common case. I also think that is very nearly a winner take all sort of thing, or at least a very API providers will still matters, if this asymptotes. Compare this to toilet paper or fuel, if AI asymptotes and everyone catches up in 6 months it will be be just like these. There are some minor differences in quality, but if a customer can buy something good enough to keep their ass clean or their car powered then they will tend to pick the cheapest option. Sometimes it is subterfuge like ms stealing the OS market from IBM or there might be a state sponsored AI lab like so many state run industries pushing out competition, but there are a ton of ways to beat first movers.