# The AI Economy Divides Into Users, Owners, and the Excluded by Emad Mostaque > The AI economy may produce a trifurcation among people who work with AI, people who own the means of AI production, and people who possess neither form of leverage. > **— Adapted from Emad Mostaque**, *Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Recording and locator:** [THIS is What Happens When AI Gets Smarter Than Humans](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsdcF7EEvhM&t=2368s) — at 39:28 Mostaque distinguishes “the people who use AI,” “the people who own the means of AI, the chips and others,” and “the people who don’t.” - **Original source passage:** “The people who use AI and the people who own the means of AI, the chips and others, and the people who don’t.” - **Editorial treatment:** The poster text is labeled as an adaptation because it turns the spoken list into a complete proposition and renders the third group’s lack of productive leverage explicitly without adding a fourth class or changing the economic distinction. - **Reconciled transcript record:** [[research/AI Is Now So Good They Will Pay You to Quit|AI Is Now So Good They Will Pay You to Quit]]. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/Vertically Integrating an AI Superpower from AI Factory to Citizen|Vertically Integrating an AI Superpower from AI Factory to Citizen]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public|The Immediate AI Risk Is the Public]] - **Wired essay:** [[wired/Wired About the Age of Agentic Empowerment|Wired About the Age of Agentic Empowerment]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/AI Economy|AI Economy]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Emad Mostaque|Emad Mostaque]] - [[wiki/AI Economic Trifurcation|AI Economic Trifurcation]] - [[wiki/AI Economy|AI Economy]] - [[wiki/Agentic Capitalism|Agentic Capitalism]] - [[wiki/Universal High Income|Universal High Income]] ## Share on Social Media ``` The AI economy may produce a trifurcation among people who work with AI, people who own the means of AI production, and people who possess neither form of leverage. — Adapted from Emad Mostaque, Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-emad-mostaque-ai-economy-users-owners-excluded ```