Blockchains made computation cost visible through gas. AI is doing the same through tokens, model choice, and reasoning effort.

That is a useful mental model.

In crypto, you do not send every transaction the same way.

If it is low value, you want it cheap.

If it is urgent, sensitive, or high value, you may pay more or choose a different chain altogether.

AI is starting to look similar.

A small, well-bounded task might belong on a cheaper model with low reasoning.

A higher-risk or more ambiguous task might justify a stronger model, more reasoning, and more cost.

Same with engineering work:

better prompts, cleaner context, and tighter scope are a bit like writing more efficient contracts.

Less waste in, less cost out.

So I think AI economics will increasingly be treated the same way blockchain economics were:

not “can it do this?”

but “what is the right amount of compute to spend on this?”

That is where this gets interesting for engineering teams and businesses alike.