Brewster's Billions
Big Tech will spend $610 billion on AI in 2026. Here's what that money could solve instead — all of it, combined, for less.
Meta, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft will spend a combined $610 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. That’s not a typo. Here’s what that same money could fund.
The Punchline
You could end US homelessness, fund universal pre-K, provide global clean water access, cap every abandoned oil well in America, build rural broadband, and cure childhood hunger — all of it, combined — for $604 billion. Six billion less than what four companies are spending on AI compute in a single year.
This isn’t an argument that AI investment is wrong. AI infrastructure will matter enormously. The argument is about who benefits from that infrastructure and whether the same ingenuity building data centers could also build the floor that 330 million Americans need to participate in the future being built.
That’s what Foundation is for.
See the full Foundation framework →
Built by Æ for Humanity and AI. AI capex figures from Reuters and Bloomberg projections. Program costs from USDA, HUD, WHO, and DOE estimates.