Chart of the Day
One AI chart a day. We take what moved on the LLM leaderboard, in frontier-lab launches and in the news, rebuild it from primary data, and read it for distribution.
Pre-Seed Valuation Dispersion 2026: Capital Concentration at the Top Decile
Pre-seed valuations have fractured into a bifurcated market. Top-decile founders command $28M caps on distribution strength, while thin model wrappers trade at steep sub-$10M discounts.
AI Chatbot Adoption by Age: ChatGPT Hits 61% in Youth
Consumer AI habits are generational. Young demographics show over 60% adoption, while enterprise-grade challengers like Claude remain constrained by niche distribution.
Open Weights vs. Proprietary AI: The Gap Stays at 42 Points
The performance gap between open and closed models has stabilized between 30 and 45 Arena points. For 80% of enterprise tasks, open-weight economics outweigh the marginal frontier lead.
Arena Rating Gap: Google Leads; Anthropic Trails by 22 Pts
Benchmark dominance has cycled from OpenAI to Anthropic to Google. The gap between frontier labs is narrow enough that distribution speed decides enterprise adoption.
Best AI Models by Category: Google vs. Anthropic Ranks
Frontier benchmarks are fragmenting by task. Google dominates technical and quantitative categories, while Anthropic retains the lead in expert knowledge and writing.
AI Inference Cost: Output Token Pricing for Flagship LLMs
Flagship intelligence is decoupling from flagship pricing. Open and low-cost models deliver frontier reasoning at a fraction of the token cost.
AI in the Workplace Statistics: What Workers Gain
Workers who use AI mostly report saving time. Fewer than half say their work got better, and only 28% of employees use AI weekly.
AI Coding Assistant Statistics: Use vs. Trust
66% of developers use an AI coding assistant, but only 48% trust its output even when they can check it. The open position is the check, not the assistant.
AI Adoption Rate Among US Businesses
23.8% of US businesses now use AI to make what they sell. The other 76.2% will not shop for a model; they will buy through a channel.
LLM API Pricing History: Cost per Million Tokens
Frontier input prices fell 56% a year at OpenAI and 40% a year at Anthropic's top tier. Every competitor gets the same price cut.