Containment as a Strategy

From compute to culture, walls are going up and control is becoming the business model.

Something’s changing in how the system protects itself.

Every layer of the stack from chips to chatbots to content is redrawing its borders. What used to be called “open” is being redefined as “unsecured.” What used to be business scale is starting to look like exposure.

This week’s stories trace that shift in real time. Nvidia warns that nationalizing compute could stall innovation. Character.AI builds safety gates around teenage users. Wikipedia starts charging for the data that trained the models eating its traffic. And a new Hollywood studio designs IP to live across platforms it can fully own.

Different industries but the same move to constrain, curate, and contain. Control isn’t a side effect anymore, it’s a feature.

Character.AI Is Ending Its Chatbot Experience for Kids

Source: TechCrunch, October 29, 2025

Right now, engagement loops are being recast as hazards—feedback cycles that regulators, parents, and the public see as addictive, manipulative, and ripe for safety intervention. C…