Affiliate Catherine Tucker Examines the AI Stack and Competition and Market Frictions at Analysis Group Events
June 9, 2026
Analysis Group affiliate Catherine Tucker shared how AI is altering the competition landscape at private dinner events in New York City and Washington, DC, hosted by the firm. Professor Tucker is an industrial organization economist and the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She heads the NBER Initiative on Digital Economics and AI. The dinner programs were organized by Managing Principals Kris Comeaux, Rebecca Kirk Fair, Andrea Okie, and Aaron Yeater.
In her remarks, Professor Tucker described the layers of the AI stack and the competitive dynamics in each. She emphasized that we should not be distracted by the current profitability of different layers of the AI stack, and that economists should still consider whether barriers to entry exist in the form of network effects, switching costs, or unique data inputs for any layer in the stack. She described her current work detailing the lack of network effects in the applications layer and industry innovations that are reducing switching costs.
Professor Tucker analogized the current competitive environment in the AI stack to prior waves of technological innovation, including internet service providers, search, and e-commerce. She also engaged in a question-and-answer session with the audience.