The metaphor of riding a leopard — clinging to a dangerous animal because dismounting is equally perilous — has become a central framework for understanding strategic lock-in among technology giants. In a recent talk titled “Riding the Leopard,” Packy McCormick, author of the Not Boring newsletter, applied the concept to the artificial intelligence arms race. McCormick argued that companies such as OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google face mounting pressure to sustain enormous capital expenditures on infrastructure and model training, even as profitability remains distant. The dynamic mirrors earlier platform battles: once a firm commits to a high-stakes trajectory, the cost of retreating — lost market share, talent exodus, investor confidence — may outweigh the cost of proceeding. The talk did not resolve whether the leopard can be tamed or merely exhausted. The unanswered question is whether any participant can exit the ride without being mauled.