Concerns grow over potential AI bubble

[VB]

AI companies will fail. We can salvage something from the wreckage | Cory Doctorowwww.theguardian.com

This piece explores whether the current AI boom could resemble past tech bubbles, while also introducing the idea of "reverse centaur" systems where humans support AI rather than the other way around. It questions whether expectations are outpacing reality.

There's definitely bubble-like behaviour in parts of the market

[QuantumKnight]

Bubble what bubble, my ai stocks have already gone down majorly

[Quanta]

But underlying tech progress seems more real than past bubbles
The "reverse centaur" idea is quite interesting long term

[codeberg]

Could change how work is structured fundamentally
Hard to tell if we're early hype or early transformation

[Totally]

I want to invest but I fear I am too late

[QuantumDay]

I don't know about that. Always the way.

Legend.

The gap between what people claim about AI and what it actually does in practice is still wide

[codeberg]

Agree with that, same experience here. Event viewer is your friend on Windows, most people never look at it.

Worked for me at least.

The free tier is usually enough unless you have a very specific workflow

[QuantumDay]

Cheers for that. Ha, fair enough

[VB]

I don't know, I had a different experience. Worth a try if you get the chance.

[Totally]

Cheers for that. You are not wrong.

Good thread this.

The gap between what people claim about AI and what it actually does in practice is still wide

[Totally]

Same here. Appreciate it.

Most people use AI as a search engine replacement and miss what it is actually good at.

[JayJ]

Ended up in the same place, yeah. I have done similar and the prep mattered more than the expensive bits.

Post a photo when it is done

[KnotKnull]

Worth checking the small print before committing. Might save you more than you think

[Matticus]

People always say this after a good run of results. Time will tell on this one.

Most people use AI as a search engine replacement and miss what it is actually good at.

[Warden]

I have seen that go wrong more than once. Worth doing it properly rather than rushing it.

The free tier is usually enough unless you have a very specific workflow

[Maxximus]

Cheers for that. Ha, fair enough.

The initial reporting on this was all over the place. There is usually a quieter more important story sitting just behind the obvious headline.

Worth watching closely

[Warden]

People always say this after a good run of results. Time will tell on this one. Most people use AI as a search engine replacement and miss w

Agree completely, preparation is everything. Happy to answer questions if you get stuck

[TheRizz]

Makes sense to me. Same here really.

Thanks for the thread

[TommyB_20]

That is the honest assessment and people do not want to hear it. Ask me again in six weeks

[HeartbreakKidStinger64]

I don't know, I had a different experience. Might go back to it

[Lucy05]

Completely agree with that. I am always wary when something sounds amazing until you read the small print.

Worth a look if you have not already

[Bright Hermit]

I don't know, I had a different experience. Might go back to it.

Still think the same, yeah. Good debate though, fair play

[Kev5]

Completely agree with that. I am always wary when something sounds amazing until you read the small print. Worth a look if you have not alre

Yeah can't really argue with that. The games that get talked about the most are rarely the ones I end up spending the most time on.

Good shout.

[DotEXE]

I work in tech and I've already seen hiring slow down in some AI startups
Not a crash yet, but definitely more caution than a year or two ago

Investors are asking tougher questions now instead of just throwing money at anything with "AI" in the pitch deck

[Buffer]

People forget that bubbles don't mean the technology is fake
It just means expectations got ahead of reality

Even if half these AI companies fail, the survivors could still reshape entire industries

[IronQuarry98]

What makes this interesting is that AI is already embedded in major companies
That makes it harder to unwind compared to something like crypto projects

Too much real infrastructure is already in place for it to just vanish overnight

[HiggsField10]

The valuation inflation feels real though
Some of these companies are being priced like they already dominate entire markets they haven't even entered yet

That kind of expectation rarely ends smoothly

[AJStyles92]

At the same time, AI is actually being used in production in a lot of places
So it doesn't feel like pure hype the way some previous bubbles did

There is real revenue being generated, which complicates the bubble argument

[DarkMatter23]

If a bubble does burst, I suspect it will be uneven rather than total collapse
Some sectors like enterprise AI will survive, others like gimmicky consumer apps might disappear completely

It will probably look messy rather than a single big event

[GoldbergFan86]

I keep seeing comparisons to the dotcom crash, but people forget that Amazon and Google survived that era and became giants
So even if there is a bubble, it doesn't mean the whole sector collapses

It just resets expectations

[Aura]

We've seen this pattern before with crypto, dotcom, and even mobile apps in their early days
Some companies will absolutely vanish, but the underlying tech usually sticks around in some form

The question is just which players survive the shakeout and who gets left holding overpriced valuations

[Craig90]

I think calling it a bubble might be a bit early
There is definitely hype and overinvestment in some areas, but there is also real infrastructure being built that isn't going away overnight

The internet bubble comparison gets thrown around a lot, but not every overhyped sector collapses the same way

[TeddyWhelan]

My worry is more about overbuilding infrastructure that might not get fully used
Data centers, GPUs, and energy commitments are being scaled very aggressively

If demand plateaus, that could get messy financially

[Paige_68]

I think the term "bubble" gets used too loosely sometimes
Not every correction is a collapse, and not every downturn is a crash

Markets adjusting to reality is normal, even if it feels dramatic in the moment

[John]

Honestly I'm more concerned about the smaller startups than the big players
If a bubble pops, the giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are not going anywhere

It's the VC backed companies burning cash that will get wiped out first

[BigDog_Fan]

If anything I think we are in the "sorting phase"
Early hype, then reality checks, then consolidation into a few dominant platforms

That's usually how these cycles play out

[Sharp Scholar]

People are also underestimating how fast enterprise adoption is happening
Even if consumer hype cools, businesses are already integrating AI into workflows

That steady demand might stabilize things more than people expect

[PaleCipher]

There is definitely speculative money in the space though
Any time you see startups with no clear product getting huge funding just because they mention AI, that's a red flag

That part feels very bubble like

[Molly_62]

Ah yes, the classic "this time it's different" cycle that every bubble story comes with. I swear we could print out a bingo card for tech hype cycles and just reuse it every decade.

That said, I do think AI has real utility underneath all the noise. The question is whether the current valuations are based on that utility or on vibes and PowerPoint decks.

If it pops, the interesting part will be what survives rather than who disappears.

[Connor97]

Every few years we collectively rediscover that markets can, in fact, be enthusiastic to the point of absurdity.

Is it a bubble? Probably in some areas. Is everything doomed? Also probably not.

The truth is usually boring: some companies overextend, some quietly become infrastructure, and most people forget which was which.

[Fan]

The funniest part of all this is watching startups with zero revenue get valued like they are already running half the internet.

I respect the optimism, but at some point it starts feeling like fantasy accounting.

Still, I guess someone has to build the future. Even if half of them are accidentally building expensive lessons instead.

[Odd Arrow]

I think people confuse "AI bubble" with "AI usefulness" too easily.

Yes, investors might overpay, and yes, some companies will absolutely vanish overnight.

But the underlying tech is already embedded in a lot of real products, so it's not like it disappears when the hype cools down.

[Inland Aidan]

Honestly I am less worried about a crash and more amused by the tone shift that will happen after it.

One day it's "transforming every industry" and the next it's "strategic restructuring due to market conditions".

Same tech, different slide deck.

[VioletBarrel]

We have seen this movie before with dot-com, crypto, and even mobile apps to some extent.

The pattern is always the same: overbuild, overhype, correct, then quietly rebuild on stronger foundations.

The only difference is the size of the bill this time.

[Di82]

I do think there is a real distinction between speculative AI companies and boring infrastructure players.

The bubble talk tends to flatten everything into one category, which is not accurate.

Some of these companies are basically selling shovels in a gold rush, and those tend to survive just fine.

[Isla]

What gets me is how fast expectations changed. Last year it was "replace all jobs", now it is "optimize workflows" and "assistive tooling".

That is quite the downgrade in marketing energy.

Maybe reality is slowly catching up with the pitch decks.

[Golden Dan]

If there is a bubble, it will probably deflate unevenly.

Big players with cloud revenue will cushion the fall, while smaller niche startups disappear quietly.

The end result might look less like a crash and more like a consolidation.

[Delulu66]

People always assume bubbles are purely bad, but they often leave behind useful infrastructure.

The internet after the dot-com crash still existed and eventually became far more stable and valuable.

So even if AI overheats, it does not mean it was all pointless.

[PlanckLimit81]

I think the real question is not "is there a bubble" but "what level of waste are we comfortable with before it corrects".

Because inefficiency seems baked into how we fund emerging tech.

The market basically pays for experimentation, even when it looks irrational from the outside.

[Ann13]

My mildly cynical take is that bubbles are just how new industries get built when nobody knows the correct price yet.

It is messy, expensive, and a bit ridiculous, but it does produce results over time.

Still, I would not want to be holding the bag when the music stops.