"Data is the new oil"
is a phrase that has held true since the dawn of the digital revolution, but it has taken on far greater significance in the age of artificial intelligence.
It was reported today that Apple will pay approximately $50 million to Shutterstock for the right to train an AI model on Shutterstock's image library.
A similar dynamic played out with Twitter, where AI engines were trained on all the text on the platform using the free API access Twitter had offered.
After acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk blocked the API and began charging for access. Many people didn't understand the move at the time, but it was entirely justified — because selling the right to train AI on Twitter's content is worth an enormous amount of money.
This can also be seen in Reddit's IPO, in which Sam Altman acquired a substantial ownership stake in the company despite it being unprofitable, because the platform contains a vast amount of specialized knowledge and is a highly sought-after content source for training AI models.
Owning knowledge is, without question, owning a gold mine — and America's data giants are poised to become even more dominant than they already are.
For anyone who worried that the United States was losing its economic edge to China, that concern appears to have faded, at least for now.