1.0Future Proof with AIhttps://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/future-proof-with-aiJulianne VanWagenenhttps://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/future-proof-with-ai/author/jvanwagenen/Open Weights and the New Economics of Inference - Future Proof with AIrich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="fzYMRbyQqx"><a href="https://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/future-proof-with-ai/memo-august-2026/">Open Weights and the New Economics of Inference</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/future-proof-with-ai/memo-august-2026/embed/#?secret=fzYMRbyQqx" width="600" height="338" title="“Open Weights and the New Economics of Inference” — Future Proof with AI" data-secret="fzYMRbyQqx" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script>
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https://aiinstitute.hbs.edu/future-proof-with-ai/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2026/08/AdobeStock_1973273631-scaled.jpeg25601707For months this column has circled a question: as AI agents do more of your work, who controls the meter? In April, Uber disclosed that it had used up its entire 2026 AI budget in four months, after an agentic coding tool spread to roughly 5,000 engineers faster than finance had modeled, and it capped […]