---
id: "quote-deliberate-inefficiency"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶18"]
tags: ["system-design", "governance"]
related: ["concept-deliberate-inefficiency", "contrarian-inefficiency-is-good"]
quote: "These mechanisms have one feature in common. They put deliberate inefficiency back into a system that AI is racing to eliminate. In systems that suffer from commons problems, deliberate inefficiency is necessary to ensure that the system is sustainable."
speaker: "Chengwei Liu and Balázs Kovács"
speakers: ["Chengwei Liu", "Balázs Kovács"]
sources: ["futures"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-futures"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-cl-84-big-tech-capability-crisis"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/big-techs-looming-capability-crisis"
sourceTitle: "Big Tech’s Looming Capability Crisis"
---
# Deliberate Inefficiency

## Quote — Deliberate Inefficiency

> "These mechanisms have one feature in common. They put deliberate inefficiency back into a system that AI is racing to eliminate. In systems that suffer from commons problems, deliberate inefficiency is necessary to ensure that the system is sustainable."
> — [[entity-chengwei-liu|Chengwei Liu]] and [[entity-bal-zs-kov-cs|Balázs Kovács]] (¶18)

The closing principle uniting the [[framework-ai-accountability|three interventions]]; the basis of the [[concept-deliberate-inefficiency|deliberate inefficiency]] concept and its [[contrarian-inefficiency-is-good|contrarian claim]].