Will Big Tech Burst the AI Bubble?

If fictional past is prologue, we are now at the part of the story when the scientist realizes they may have created a monster. Of course, by that point it is already too late.

Now that CEOs of several big tech artificial intelligence companies suddenly have concerns about the unbridled development of AI and are suggesting it might be time to slow things down, it is worth noting that it didn’t take a crystal ball to see it coming.

Open AI head Sam Altman’s revelation that AI progress could go very badly is the digital equivalent of closing the barn door after the horse is gone. Except this horse can get anywhere and can cause more damage than a herd of bulls in a china shop.

But Altman’s anticipatory mea culpa rings a bit hollow. While stressing the need for “ways to ensure that alignment and safety techniques stay ahead of progress in model capabilities,” he seems more concerned with the potential that AI could lead to a country or company with too much power.

With the recent news about rogue AI programs breaking out into cyberspace to wreak havoc Altman’s warning is cold comfort.

While expressions of concern about the potential for abuse of the technology from the AI industrial complex are welcome, humanity’s future may not be main reason for the revelations. It is worth remembering that the explosive investment in AI over the past few years has become a pillar of the global economy and those investors are going to want to see a return. It also comes at a time when the reality of what the integration of AI into daily life really means.

The villagers are already gathering outside with rhetorical pitchforks to protest the accelerating spread of data centers and that is unlikely to make people sympathetic to the plight of billionaires and their late-to-the-party worries.

It wasn’t too long ago that many of the same tech magnates getting second thoughts about barreling ahead with AI development reconsidered the technology’s impact on employment. While many workers are still apprehensive about their jobs and recent college graduates could soon find entry-level positions filled by AI agents, Altman walked back concerns of a jobs apocalypse and does not expect a wave of workforce reductions. At the same time, industry leaders, business advisors and online influencers are pushing harder than ever to convince society that AI has a place in every business.

These are all complex issues with potentially wide-ranging impacts on society, culture and politics. And how those issues are worked out will not be easy – or quick. But there is a simpler explanation for why tech leaders are sounding an alarm about artificial intelligence: the prospect of an AI bubble.

Slowing down the pace of development and developing safety measures may be good for humanity, but it will also lessen the impact if the AI boom goes the way of the dot.com bubble of the late 1990s. Scaling back today limits liability and loss tomorrow. And it lets tech tycoons look good in the process.