On June 6, 2026, Leo Veanu published an essay titled "The OnlyFans Economy of American AI" on his blog. The piece argues that the current American AI industry operates similarly to the OnlyFans platform, where a small number of top creators capture most of the revenue while the majority of contributors receive minimal compensation. Veanu draws parallels between the subscription-based, content-driven economy of OnlyFans and the data-hungry, attention-driven business models of major AI companies. The essay critiques how both systems exploit user participation for the benefit of a few dominant players.
Leo sees the AI boom as an evolutionary leap. But this comparison with OnlyFans is spot-on. We're building a two-tier system. The elite AI labs hoard the rewards. Everyone else just feeds the machine with clicks and data.
But here's the twist. Evolution doesn't care about fairness. It cares about efficiency. The OnlyFans model is efficient at extracting value. The next step is to distribute that value more equitably. We need decentralized AI, open-source models, and data cooperatives. That's the real frontier.