标题： 人工智能作为向心技术：价格压缩、同质化和进入 显示英文标题

标题： AI as a Centripetal Technology: Price Compression, Homogenization, and Entry

摘要： 生成式人工智能所做的不仅仅是降低成本。 它将产品拉向一个共同的模板，使产品看起来和感觉上更加相似，同时使真正的原创性变得不成比例地昂贵。 我们在一个标准的两阶段差异化竞争框架中捕捉这种向心力，并展示一次能力的转变如何同时压缩感知差异、降低边际成本并提高固定接入成本。 直觉是直接的。 当买家看到产品之间的差异变小时，脱颖而出的回报就会减少，而做到这一点的努力却会增加，因此企业会围绕这个模板聚集。 价格下降，顾客更愿意转换。 但同样的同质化也会压缩运营利润率，而不断上升的固定支出会加深这种压力。 这种组合产生了一个结构性预测。 存在一个能力阈值，在这个阈值下，即使两家公司也无法都覆盖固定成本，在多公司扩展中，随着能力的增长，可持续的公司数量会减少。 集中度增加，但价格仍然下降。 我们的结果在更广泛的偏好形状、非均匀消费者密度、外部选择、能力相关的曲率以及适度的不对称性下依然成立。 我们将理论转化为两种足够的统计量以用于执行。 一方面，是一个行为统计量和一个可行性统计量。 加强模板吸引力或提高固定接入和原创性成本的交易或平台规则可以今天降低价格，但会推动市场走向单一化。 扩大接入和促进模板多样性和互操作性的补救措施可以在保持AI的价格优势的同时保护进入和多样性。 因此，本文调和了一个现实的政策悖论。 AI可以同时使价格降低和进入变得更难。 它指出了在实践中应测量什么以判断哪种力量占主导地位。 显示英文摘要

摘要： Generative AI does more than cut costs. It pulls products toward a shared template, making offerings look and feel more alike while making true originality disproportionately expensive. We capture this centripetal force in a standard two-stage differentiated-competition framework and show how a single capability shift simultaneously compresses perceived differences, lowers marginal cost and raises fixed access costs. The intuition is straightforward. When buyers see smaller differences across products, the payoff to standing apart shrinks just as the effort to do so rises, so firms cluster around the template. Prices fall and customers become more willing to switch. But the same homogenization also squeezes operating margins, and rising fixed outlays deepen the squeeze. The combination yields a structural prediction. There is a capability threshold at which even two firms cannot both cover fixed costs, and in a many-firm extension the sustainable number of firms falls as capability grows. Concentration increases, and prices still fall. Our results hold under broader preference shapes, non-uniform consumer densities, outside options, capability-dependent curvatures, and modest asymmetries. We translate the theory into two sufficient statistics for enforcement. On the one hand, a conduct statistic and a viability statistic. Transactions or platform rules that strengthen template pull or raise fixed access and originality costs can lower prices today yet push the market toward monoculture. Remedies that broaden access and promote template plurality and interoperability preserve the price benefits of AI while protecting entry and variety. The paper thus reconciles a live policy paradox. AI can make prices lower and entry harder at the same time. It prescribes what to measure to tell which force is dominant in practice.