There once were two competing video cassette tape designs, VHS and Betamax. Betamax was developed by Sony and was brought to market in 1975, while VHS was created by JVS and came out in 1976. Betamax had the better quality but the story goes that porn was distributed on VHS, which was the less expensive format. As a result VHS won out and Beta stopped existing more than twenty years ago. 

This morning I was thinking that the same could happen with AI. There are loads of AI companies that are competing. We are told that some AI can already create convincing video from a still image. What if one of the AI systems becomes capable of creating porn on demand, letting a person choose who does what to whom. What does it mean when anybody can have video of anyone doing anything?

Are there executives of AI corporations discussing this nuclear option to get larger market share? It would make for an interesting movie plot. 

PS: a reader alerted me to the possibility that it may have had to do with recording sports and longer movies–the quality of Betamax was higher but the limit was 1-2 hours while VHS could record up to 4-6 hours–rather than the ability to buy porn. I found this article which explains it somewhat… but not really. It doesn’t matter to me either way, because it was a thought experiment.