Field Atlas · The AI Sector · v4 Interactive

The Stack,
bottom to top.

Seven layers from sand to software. Intelligence is manufactured at the bottom and refined upward; capital flows the other way — where a name sits determines what it can charge, what it can defend, and who can eat it.

Below the map, the Operator's Bench lets you run the numbers yourself: what your own AI usage costs, how to adapt a model, and a concepts deck for the machinery underneath.

New here? Skim top → bottom for the full map, jump straight to the Operator's Bench to run the numbers yourself, or hit Quiz me to test what stuck. Click any tile or concept card to go deeper — nothing here assumes prior AI knowledge.

Lens

Trace a dollar

Operator's bench ↓

▲ Intelligence & margin compound upward ▼ Capital & compute pour downward Epistemics: plain text = public fact · reported = unconfirmed / in talks · ○ = thesis, an argument not a measurement

Part II · The Operator's Bench

Now run the numbers yourself.

The map shows where the money sits; the bench shows why. Three instruments — drag, choose, flip.

II · 01

Your AI Bill — what your own usage actually costs

Pick a model tier and a task you actually do. See what it costs per query on the raw API — then check whether your monthly subscription is a good deal at your real volume, or whether you're paying for headroom you never touch.

Pick a task you actually do

Model tier (sets $/M tokens ○)

Run open models on your own hardware?

—

cost / query (API)

—

est. cost / mo (API)

—

vs your subscription

II · 02

Adapt or Build — which lever do you pull?

Four ways to make a rented model yours. Answer four questions; the bench recommends a stack and names the failure mode you just signed up for.

II · 03

The Concepts Deck — the machinery, thirty seconds a card

One term per card: the plain-English version, the one thing to remember, and a sharp question to ask. Say your version out loud before you flip.

Capital & M&A — recent flow

Reading the map · ○ these are theses — arguments, not measurements

Where the live numbers live · this page is a dated snapshot — these update in real time

TimelinesAI 2027 — the reference near-term AGI scenario (Kokotajlo / AI Futures Project)
RankingsLM Arena — human-preference gold standard · Artificial Analysis — benchmark + price + speed index
PricingOpenRouter — live per-model token pricing across every provider
Run localHugging Face — the open-model hub & leaderboard · LM Studio / Ollama to run them · LLM Fit Check — what fits your specs

Now run the numbers yourself.

Capital & M&A — recent flow

Reading the map · ○ these are theses — arguments, not measurements

Where the live numbers live · this page is a dated snapshot — these update in real time

▸ Corners this map doesn't fully capture (yet)