Barriers to AI Inputs: Implications for Competition and Innovation
Management and Business Review, 2025
To harness the economic benefits of AI, firms must have access to AI “building blocks”: high-quality data, reliable AI models, computing infrastructure and resources, and AI specialists, all of which could require significant investment. AI adoption also involves managing risk, including ethical use considerations, data security risks, and regulatory and legal compliance. Firms that successfully implement AI technologies will be better positioned to compete in the new digital economy, but such outcomes depend on firms accessing these essential AI inputs.
In an article published in Management and Business Review, Principal Jimmy Royer and Professors Lee Tiedrich and Mohsen Foroughifar identify possible barriers that may prevent firms from accessing AI inputs and discuss possible cost-effective solutions such as using infrastructure as a service (IAAS) and licensing commercially available AI tools. The article concludes by reiterating the importance of stakeholder collaboration for improving access to AI inputs: “If policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, civil society, and data rights holders work together to promote legal compliance and trusted technological progress, we will advance innovation, drive economic growth, and encourage the use of AI for social good, building a dynamic and trustworthy market for an increasingly digital world.”
Authors
Tiedrich L, Foroughifar, Royer J