You Can't Compete on Cheap Models Anymore

Nate B Jones argues we're at a crucial inflection: cheaper AI models are now matching expensive ones on routine work, making smart model routing table stakes. But that's not where the real competitive edge lives anymore. Once execution gets cheap, the bottleneck shifts from price to imagination. If your task list hasn't changed in a year, you're not losing on model cost—you're losing on creativity. Jones points to Apple versus BlackBerry: the winner wasn't better execution, but imagining entirely different work. The real leverage isn't choosing between a one-dollar and a nine-dollar model. It's asking what work you haven't considered yet.

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