Most organizations evaluate a dependency by asking, “Can we enter?” Very few ask, “Can we leave?” The RHODES Exit Test provides a simple diagnostic for evaluating technical, data, governance, and economic dependencies—and determining whether an architecture preserves future optionality or quietly constrains it.

Layered AI infrastructure architecture showing the physical foundations of the AI era. Energy, semiconductors, compute, connectivity, and governance form the underlying system that determines technological capability, strategic leverage, and long-term control. The visual illustrates how infrastructure—not software—has become the primary constraint shaping the future of AI.

AI is no longer primarily a software story. Energy, compute, semiconductors, connectivity, and governance are becoming the defining constraints of the AI era. Infrastructure—not applications—will determine who holds leverage in the decade ahead.