The Index measures what is measurable. The Essays do the harder work. Capital flows. Market structure. Geopolitics. Labor and economy. The questions the AI era is asking that no one is answering yet, taken seriously, written with range.
Issue 004 shows why the AI compute market can publish many numbers and still give buyers too few comparable prices. Fifteen providers published comparable public rates. Twelve did not enter the medians.
The market for AI compute is opaque, fragmented, and full of confidently wrong answers. The founding essay, what is being built, why now, and the four commitments that hold the publication to its work.
The four largest hyperscalers are committing the GDP of a mid-sized economy to AI infrastructure this year alone. Where the money is going. What they are betting on. What would have to be true for it to make sense, and what happens to the rest of us if the bet is wrong.