Publication record
The Missing Meter
What every infrastructure buildout leaves behind, and the unit AI still lacks
- Author
- Sidney Scott
- Affiliation
- The Ashby Institute
- Published
- Latest revision
- Version
- v1.0
- Canonical URL
- themissingmeter.org/publications/the-missing-meter/
Abstract
AI is the first trillion-dollar infrastructure buildout that cannot yet state, in a standard unit, what its output costs. This paper proposes the served token as a unit of account for AI inference, conditioned on a stated service-level objective and quality floor.
Access
The paper page contains the full article, figures, appendix, and prediction scoreboard. The final PDF is a permanent direct download.
Citation
Sidney Scott. “The Missing Meter: What every infrastructure buildout leaves behind, and the unit AI still lacks.” v1.0, October 1, 2026. https://themissingmeter.org/publications/the-missing-meter/