Revenue-Sharing as Infrastructure: A Distributed Business Model for Generative AI Platforms

TL;DR

This paper introduces the Revenue-Sharing as Infrastructure (RSI) model for generative AI platforms, which offers free infrastructure and takes a revenue percentage, lowering entry barriers and promoting innovation especially in low-income regions.

Contribution

It proposes a novel revenue-sharing business model for AI platforms, reversing traditional payment structures and fostering inclusive participation and innovation.

Findings

RSI model reduces entry barriers for developers.

Aligns stakeholder interests through revenue sharing.

Potential to unlock economic growth in low-income countries.

Abstract

Generative AI platforms (Google AI Studio, OpenAI, Anthropic) provide infrastructures (APIs, models) that are transforming the application development ecosystem. Recent literature distinguishes three generations of business models: a first generation modeled on cloud computing (pay-per-use), a second characterized by diversification (freemium, subscriptions), and a third, emerging generation exploring multi-layer market architectures with revenue-sharing mechanisms. Despite these advances, current models impose a financial barrier to entry for developers, limiting innovation and excluding actors from emerging economies. This paper proposes and analyzes an original model, "Revenue-Sharing as Infrastructure" (RSI), where the platform offers its AI infrastructure for free and takes a percentage of the revenues generated by developers applications. This model reverses the traditional upstream payment logic and mobilizes concepts of value co-creation, incentive mechanisms, and multi-layer market architecture to build an original theoretical framework. A detailed comparative analysis shows that the RSI model lowers entry barriers for developers, aligns stakeholder interests, and could stimulate innovation in the ecosystem. Beyond its economic relevance, RSI has a major societal dimension: by enabling developers without initial capital to participate in the digital economy, it could unlock the "latent jobs dividend" in low-income countries, where mobile penetration reaches 84%, and help address local challenges in health, agriculture, and services. Finally, we discuss the conditions of feasibility and strategic implications for platforms and developers.