During a recent conversation with The Verge, Bret Taylor—who serves as both the chair of OpenAI's board and the CEO of AI startup Sierra—was questioned about whether he agreed with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s remark that “someone is going to lose a phenomenal amount of money in AI.”
Taylor expressed agreement with Altman, implying that the current enthusiasm around AI does resemble a bubble, but, much like Altman, he did not express serious concern about it.
“I believe that AI will have a profound impact on the global economy, and like the internet, it is poised to generate substantial economic value moving forward,” Taylor remarked. “At the same time, I do see signs of a bubble, and I expect that significant financial losses are likely for many people. Both of these realities can coexist, and history shows plenty of examples where this has happened before.”
Taylor specifically drew parallels between the current AI boom and the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s. Despite the widespread failures that occurred when that bubble popped, he contended that “everyone in 1999 was essentially correct.”
