The AI bubble is like the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s
Two months on from ChatGPT’s November 30 public launch, the story remains alternately amusing and alarming.
Among creatives, there’s a somewhat injudicious rush to compliment or caterwaul.
Business too are on an artificially induced Artificial Intelligence (AI) jag, similar to the dotcom boom, the stampede to the worldwide web, and the crypto and blockchain-related bubbles.
The mythical pot of gold at the end of the AI rainbow means shares of a digital media company like Buzzfeed Inc. soared by 203 per cent after it declared AI-inspired content would become part of its core offering.
Say what?
What could AI, which doesn’t actually know anything (but can generate reams of text when prompted), possibly do to help Buzzfeed’s output become more interesting, insightful or useful to the reader?
AI seems to be an emerging bubble with everyone seeking to proclaim they’re getting into it (in some, as yet unspecified way) and the market clapping back with a giddy response.
It’s a little like the tulip mania of the 1630s in the Netherlands but then all bubbles – NFTs, meme stocks and now AI – look pretty much alike, foolish, fantastic, fast.
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