> If R&D were to be stopped now they would be profitable.
Not until the cost of the previous training has been completed amortised.
Even if some company did immediately stop all training, they would only show a profit until the next SOTA model is released by a competitor, and then they would would go out of business.
None of them have any moat, other than large amounts of venture capital. Even if there is a single winner at the end of all of this, all it would take is a much smaller amount of capital to catch up.
Not until the cost of the previous training has been completed amortised.
Even if some company did immediately stop all training, they would only show a profit until the next SOTA model is released by a competitor, and then they would would go out of business.
None of them have any moat, other than large amounts of venture capital. Even if there is a single winner at the end of all of this, all it would take is a much smaller amount of capital to catch up.