Inference Economics in the AI Era: Research Programme
Forthcoming Research on the Economics of AI Inference, Compute Costs, and Value Distribution
Research in Progress — This research programme is currently under development. Papers and analyses will be published in this space as work is completed. Subscribe to our insights feed or follow BRASS Digital Lab on LinkedIn for updates.
Programme Overview
The Inference Economics research strand examines the economic foundations, market structures, and policy implications of AI inference at scale. As large language models transition from experimental to production deployment, the economics of inference — not training — are becoming the dominant force shaping the AI industry.
This programme will address questions including:
- How does the marginal cost of inference evolve as hardware efficiency improves?
- What market structures emerge in inference-as-a-service platforms?
- How is value distributed across the inference stack (model providers, cloud infrastructure, application developers, end users)?
- What are the implications of inference cost dynamics for competitive strategy in AI-dependent enterprises?
- How do regulatory frameworks need to evolve to address inference-market concentration?
Expected Contributions
Research outputs will combine formal economic modelling, empirical simulation, and institutional analysis, with a particular focus on applications relevant to UAE and GCC enterprises operating in AI-intensive environments.
Check back for published papers and working papers in this programme.