The Half-Life of Intelligence

In physics, a half-life is the time it takes for half of an element to decay. The word can be lent to business: the half-life of a technological advantage is the time it takes for half of its excess profit to evaporate. For pharmaceuticals that is roughly twenty years, held open by patents. For leading-edge chips, about two years, held open by process. For AI, the measured value is six months. And…