Big Tech (Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Amazon) actually compromise innovation. They don't want to be disrupted.
"In the last twenty years, no company has commercialized a new technology in a way that threatens the tech giants. Why? We argue that the tech giants have learned how to coopt disruption."
They use their money to influence the startups developing disruptive technologies, strategically discriminate access to data, and lobby for regulation that hurts "the small guy." When a threat emerges, they acquire it to kill or redirect its resources to their own needs. AI, VR, and FSD are examples of disruptions being co-opted by Big Tech right now.
Disruptive technologies offer innovation that brings competition and economic progress, creating a virtuous cycle. However, the tech giants have increasingly found ways to coopt that disruption, sometimes squelching innovation altogether.
Solutions include non-competition provisions, anti-monopoly regulation, illegalizing data access discrimination by monopolies, cracking down on lobbying, and illegalizing acquisitions of startups.
Thanks Tim Franklin-Hensler for sharing the article.
