AI
Models become the interface layer above search, software and services.
A keynote in three chapters
The Internet&Technology
A network of networks — how it rewired civilisation, and where it goes next.
ConnectivityComputationConsequence
2026
The state of the network
A planet wired in three decades
0people online — roughly 68% of humanity
0still offline
0of data created in 2025
0average daily time online
Sources: ITU Facts & Figures · IDC DataSphere · GWI
Chapter One
Foundations
Protocols, packets and the physics underneath every tap.
1969 → today
Five hinges that made the internet inevitable
- 1969
ARPANET
Four university nodes prove packet switching works.
- 1983
TCP/IP
One common protocol fuses rival networks into an internet.
- 1991
The Web
Hypertext turns the network into a library anyone can publish to.
- 2007
The Smartphone
The internet becomes personal, portable and permanent.
- 2012
Cloud & Scale
Compute becomes a utility, rented by the second.
Architecture
The stack: four layers, one contract
01
Physical
Subsea cables, fibre, spectrum and data centres.
02
Protocol
TCP/IP, DNS, BGP and TLS keep strangers in sync.
03
Platform
Cloud, APIs and identity turn protocols into products.
04
People
Billions of endpoints of attention, trust and risk.
Design choices vs. consequences
Why it scales — and what that costs
The design
- End-to-end principle. Intelligence at the edges, plain pipes in the middle.
- Best-effort delivery. Cheap and resilient — with no guarantees.
- Open standards. Anyone can build without asking permission.
The consequence
- Innovation without gatekeepers — but also without a safety net.
- Resilience by design, yet traffic concentrates in a few chokepoints.
- Neutrality is contested. Every pipe eventually wants a toll booth.
Chapter Two
Transformation
What the network did to the economy — four forces at once.
The current platform shift
Four forces reshaping everything
Cloud
Compute and storage rented by the second from a handful of hyperscalers.
Mobile-first
The default screen for the next billion users — not the desktop.
Edge & 5G
Latency measured in milliseconds instead of miles.
Compounding
Cloud enables AI, AI demands edge capacity, mobile distributes both.
Approximate annual scale
The digital economy, by the numbers
| Segment | Scale | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Digital advertising | ≈ $700B | Consolidating around three platforms |
| E-commerce | ≈ $6T GMV | Steady growth, social commerce rising |
| Cloud infrastructure | ≈ $330B | Accelerating on AI demand |
| Semiconductors | ≈ $600B | Strategic, subsidised, contested |
| Subsea connectivity | ≈ $15B | Private cable consortia lead |
Rounded industry estimates for scale — direction matters more than the decimal.
When the cloud touches the ground
The physical internet nobody sees
0of subsea cable carries almost all intercontinental traffic
0drawn by data centres — about 1.5% of world electricity
0landing hubs — Egypt, Singapore, Oman — concentrate the risk
One anchor drag can knock a country offline for hours.
Promise and price
What we gained, what it cost
What we gained
- Access. Knowledge, markets and identity for billions.
- Growth. A new productivity layer in every sector.
- Coordination. Logistics, research and payments at global speed.
What it cost us
- Attention. Misinformation travels faster than correction.
- Security. Cybercrime at roughly $10.5T a year.
- Concentration. A few firms hold the choke points.
- Material. 62 Mt of electronics discarded yearly.
Four numbers to keep in view
The bill comes due
0annual cost of cybercrime
0data-centre electricity, ≈1.5% of demand
0of e-waste generated each year
0of breaches involve a human element
Sources: Cybersecurity Ventures · IEA · Global E-waste Monitor · Verizon DBIR
Chapter Three
What comes next
2026 → 2035. Five shifts already underway.
And what each one demands of us
Five shifts already underway
- 2026
AI-native web
Agents browse, negotiate and transact on our behalf.
- 2027
Post-quantum crypto
Migration to PQC standards becomes non-negotiable.
- 2028
6G & satellites
Terrestrial networks merge with orbital constellations.
- 2030
Ambient computing
Interfaces dissolve into objects, rooms and clothing.
- 2035
Spatial identity
Presence, payment and reputation fuse into one layer.
The internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand.Eric Schmidt · former CEO of Google
Three commitments that decide the next decade
The network is a choice
- 01Build for openness — interoperability is the compounding asset.
- 02Treat security and energy as design constraints, not afterthoughts.
- 03The next billion users are the next billion opportunities.