The article discusses the emergence of new players and startups in the field of AI inference, which is the process of using a pre-trained AI model to make predictions or decisions on new data. These companies are developing specialized hardware and software solutions that can perform AI inference tasks more efficiently and at a lower cost compared to traditional cloud providers. The article highlights that by 2024, the prices for cheap AI workloads are expected to drop significantly due to increased competition and innovation in this space. This trend could democratize access to AI capabilities, enabling more businesses and organizations to leverage AI technologies. However, the article also notes that for complex and high-performance AI workloads, cloud providers like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft may still maintain a competitive edge due to their vast resources and expertise.