Honey, who shrank the chatbot? Even AI needs to count calories

Shrinkflation is old but what it's doing to artificial intelligence is new—if not all that surprising

- Nilesh Jasani

Shrinkflation. It's a word that would've sounded like some sci-fi phenomenon back in my college days in the 1990s. And yet, my first encounter with the essence of shrinkflation was in real life.

Our college town had this quirky system of shared auto-rickshaws, almost a budget limousine ferrying a crowd of students for a pittance. As fuel prices surged in response to the Iraq War, our kind-hearted auto drivers didn't hike their rates. Instead, they creatively solved the problem by squeezing more of us into each rickshaw.

First five. Then seven. And soon, we were a veritable sardine can on wheels, clinging to each other and the very concept of personal space.

That was the original ride-sharing economy, minus the app installed on smartphones and algorithms for surge pricing.

And it wasn't just our rides: the idlis we picked up at nearby cafes got smaller every trimester, a blessing for our waistlines that our scrawny frames did not need.

Back then, there was no fancy term like 'shrinkflation'.

Fast forward to today. Shrinkflation is as ubiquitous as selfies at a tourist spot. Open a bag of chips, and you might wonder if you've purchased a packet of air with a side serving of disappointment. "Family-sized" cartons of juice now apparently cater to the minimalist family of two.

Shrinkflation is everywhere, so it should not have been surprising to see it reach the land of Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), which is all the rage nowadays.