AI Supply / Demand

Work-unit market model

AI doesn't need to replace a job to collapse the price of a task.

This model treats a job as a bundle of smaller work units. It shows what happens when AI makes one exposed unit cheaper to produce, while context, trust, judgement, and accountability stay scarce.

Selected market

Student study resources

Generic notes become abundant. Value moves toward guided feedback and course-specific judgement.

Supply and demand chart A diagram comparing the before-AI and after-AI supply curves against the same work-unit demand curve.
Unit price -82%
Quantity served +94%
Human share 28%
Human value pool -71%

Markets

Same technology, different price collapse.

Market Exposed unit Scarce residual Typical result

Method

A toy model for thinking, not a labour forecast.

The simulator uses normalised supply and demand curves. AI capability, marginal cost, trust friction, demand expansion, and context scarcity shift the after-AI supply curve, then the app solves for a new equilibrium price and quantity. The advanced knobs change baseline demand, human supply cost, elasticity, rigidity, and residual value capture.

The useful question is not whether a job title survives. It is which work units inside the job lose exchange value, and whether cheaper output creates enough new demand to make up for the price drop.