ChatGPT engages over 700 million individuals weekly, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman suspects we may be in an AI bubble. “When bubbles occur, intelligent individuals become overly enthusiastic about a kernel of truth,” he shared with a group of journalists, including The Verge’s Alex Heath, during a dinner in San Francisco. “If you examine the majority of the bubbles in history, such as the tech bubble, there was a genuine element. Technology was highly significant. The internet represented a substantial development. People became overly enthusiastic. Are we in a time where investors, in general, are overly enthusiastic about AI? My view is yes. Is AI the most significant event to happen in a long time? My view is also yes.”
A bubble manifests when the price of an asset inflates beyond its true value, frequently due to investor eagerness. Instances comprise the dotcom bubble, the cryptocurrency bubble, and the housing bubble of the 2000s. As Nasdaq articulates, bubbles are “often challenging to identify in real time because there is disagreement over the fundamental value of the asset.”
As per NBC News, the AI bubble could exceed the internet bubble, as indicated by a report from Apollo Global Management’s chief economist Torsten Slok. However, not everyone is in agreement. Ray Wang, research director for semiconductors, supply chain, and emerging technology at Futurum Group, informed CNBC that while there may be an AI bubble, he doesn’t necessarily perceive that reality. “The fundamentals throughout the supply chain remain robust, and the long-term trajectory of the AI trend endorses ongoing investment,” he mentioned. It’s typically easier to pinpoint a bubble in retrospect.
Altman also remarked that ChatGPT is presently the “fifth largest website in the world,” and he anticipates it to overtake Instagram and Facebook for the third position soon. Following that, ChatGPT’s growth difficulties “become more challenging.” “For ChatGPT to surpass Google, that’s indeed difficult,” he stated.
A key focus for Altman is to acquire more GPUs to further scale OpenAI, irrespective of the bubble. “You should anticipate OpenAI to invest trillions of dollars in data center development in the not-too-distant future,” he expressed.