Essays

Essays on AI sovereignty, model economics, infrastructure, and the structural dynamics of technological power.

2026

Sovereignty as a Structural Force

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

As large language models become strategic infrastructure, sovereignty turns dependency, jurisdiction, and control into forces that shape competition.

The Control Plane Split

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

Large language models are splitting into two economic roles: attention capture and intent execution.

Local Parity

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

Local models become competitive when the remaining gap falls below what users can notice.

Data Duality

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

Skill-forming and fact-forming data produce different kinds of model progress, but release cycles often blur them together.

The Perception Threshold

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

Technical improvements stop producing advantage once users can no longer perceive the difference.

The Inhibiting Lead

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

Early infrastructure advantage can turn into a liability when cost curves collapse faster than capital can amortize.

The AI Race Is a Category Error

date: by Tedla Brandsema

Essay

AI competition is not one race but many layered domains with different constraints and timelines.