Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: The Internet Bubble Burst 25 Years Ago, Is AI the Next?
by
o48o
on 21/02/2025, 11:15:54 UTC


The internet bubble burst because investors bought pieces of companies which had .com as their name or were providing internet services. AI being the current tech will not have the same problem if the market crashes. Nvidia lost $600 billion value in a single day after DeepSeek launched their service but the market did not crash because it is a different time.

Looking back at the rise and crash of the internet bubble, we see a classic example of how technology can go through massive changes. Between 1995 and 2000, the internet industry exploded, with thousands of startups popping up and investors pouring in huge amounts of money. But by 2000, the bubble burst, and many companies went under, causing chaos in the market. So, does the current tech scene have a similar risk of a bubble? Technology, especially things like self-driving cars, medical advancements, and smart devices, seems super promising right now, attracting tons of investment and startups. But just like with the internet, rapid growth in tech often comes with unrealistic expectations and a lot of blind investment.
First bubble started to grow in 2015 with the Deepdream AI art generator, years ago. Since then, there has been several AI nonsense blockchain vaporware token sales.
Every blockchain related tech around it has been nonsense and will be nonsense, because token sales for it aren't practical in any other way, but raising money behind regulations. Or just for stealing money.

It has bursted many times since them. and boosted with better algorithms and language models, but still, people are sold something they don't fully grasp, just like with blockchain.
current AI isn't real Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). It's good with repetitive routine tasks, and it can mimic humans without understanding the content of what's been said. This is because it's an advantaged language model, and people are easy to fool.

If you happened to miss it, few months ago OpenAI and Microsoft changed their definition for AGI, and this looks like hilarious scam now: Definition of AGI is a "system capable of generating $100 billion in profits".